Amidst rising tensions in Bangladesh, a major passport fraud investigation has been launched in Kolkata after it was discovered that 73 Indian passports were allegedly issued to Bangladeshi nationals using “forged documents”, the police said on Wednesday.
The regional passport authority allegedly issued 73 of these passports, while 48 other passports had been blocked despite their “applicants” reportedly completing the application process.
A Special Investigation Team (SIT) from the Kolkata Police headquarters Lalbazar arrested four accused, including Samaresh Biswas and his son, Ripon Biswas, who are believed to be the main conspirators.
Two temporary post office employees, Deepak Mondal, and Tarakanath Sen, have also been arrested for their alleged involvement in the fraud.
Meanwhile, according to a police officer, it is also being probed if the police verification was completed for these 121 passports.
As per the police, the accused allegedly created fake voter and Aadhaar cards to upload during the application process, mostly in North 21 Paraganas district. Prima facie, the police said, a few employees of the passport service centres of two post offices at Amta in Howrah and Basirhat in North 24 Parganas would allegedly upload the documents without verifying them.
The police suspect that the alleged fraudulent passport holders may have “infiltrated” India from Bangladesh and then left the country using these fraudulent passports. The police are actively contacting authorities in France and Italy to investigate potential travel destinations and get the passports cancelled.
The Ministry of External Affairs has been informed about the situation, and efforts are underway to cancel the 48 blocked passports. As per sources, the passports have been made and issued in exchange for Rs 2 to 5 lakh.
Investigators are also looking into the alleged role of passport service centres along with multiple post offices in this incident. Meanwhile, Sen, who was arrested on Monday, and Ripon, who was arrested earlier, were produced in the Alipore court on Tuesday. The two were remanded to police custody until December 24.
The police said they are searching for “several” other people involved in the alleged scam after interrogating Samaresh. They added they have learned that Samaresh had earlier been arrested in Barasat, Chunchura, and Delhi in passport forgery cases.