Kolkata Police have arrested an alleged Bangladeshi national who had been “illegally” residing in India and had altered his appearance before a visa interview in connection with a “massive” passport scam in the state.
The arrest comes as part of an ongoing investigation into 73 Indian passports being allegedly issued to Bangladeshi nationals using “forged documents”.
According to the police, Chayan Barua, 28, was arrested Monday evening after he illegally obtained a passport under the name of ‘Palash Biswas’. Barua, alias Biswas, had allegedly entered India through the Assam border in 2021 and had allegedly been living in India since, having worked in cities such as Delhi, Chennai, and Kolkata.
The arrest came before Barua’s scheduled interview for a Europe work visa.
“He is actually a resident of Halodiya Falong, Cox’s Bazar, in Bangladesh’s Ukhia district,” a police officer who is part of the investigation, told The Indian Express, adding that Barua “passed Class 8 from Alam Model School at Cox’s Bazar”.
Once he entered India, he allegedly met Samaresh Biswas and his son Ripon, both of whom were arrested in the “passport scam” in December. The two allegedly provided him with fake documents, which he then used to get a passport.
According to the police officer quoted earlier, when Barua was summoned for an interrogation at the Madhyamgram Police Station on Monday, he “changed his appearance and shaved his beard”. He was arrested at the police station, presented before a court and remanded to police custody for three days.
Barua had allegedly been living in a rented house at Ganga Nagar in North 24 Parganas’s Madhyamgram but had obtained the passport with a “non-existent” address in North Kolkata’s Chitpore. The passport scam case was registered in the Bhawanipur police station on September 27.
“During questioning, Biswas provided misleading information and failed to disclose crucial details,” police said.
This is the tenth arrest in the case, including the alleged kingpin and a Bharatiya Janata Party worker.