1 more cop in Bengal under scanner in passport scam case
Times of India | 6 January 2025
12 Kolkata: Days after a former passport verification officer, sub-inspector (SI) Abdul Hai (61) was arrested for his alleged connection with the passport forgery racket, investigators on Sunday indicated that the former might have been helped by a second cop. According to sources, Hai received money multiple times from another accused, who was previously arrested in the passport scam. This money trail, though only once, was also traced to another verification officer.
"Hai is being questioned in this regard. All of Hai's records, ever since he had been posted at the Security Control Organization of KP, are under scrutiny. So far, 51 passports with fake documents have been traced. These were allegedly cleared by Hai after verification," the source added.
Lalbazar sources claimed Hai was posted in the SCO's passport section in 2018. In Aug 2024, mastermind Samaresh Mondal, with help from another mastermind, Manoj Gupta, approached the then sub-inspector (Hai) for passport verification. Allegedly, the SI approved it without verifying the address, for which he was paid Rs 30,000, sources added.
Last Sept, an initial complaint regarding the validity of 130 passports was filed at the Bhawanipur police station. It was found that 52 of these passports were issued with Kolkata addresses. All of these had undergone police verification between Aug and Sept 2024. As per the protocol, the name of the verifying officer is recorded with the passport authorities and SCO for each passport.
Detectives found Hai's name and official seal on these 51 passports as the verification officer, which raised suspicion. "By verifying passports based on fake documents, Abdul pocketed about Rs 12 lakh in two months, which Samaresh claimed was his retirement scheme.The accused would also verify signatures outside of duty hours," sources said.