Bangladeshi national guise as Buddhist monk to run passport racket, held for misdeeds
Telegraph | 23 March 2025
A Bangladeshi national arrested in January for fraudulently obtaining an Indian passport had been posing as a Buddhist monk to run a racket that helped foreigners obtain Indian passports and “prepare fake documents required for obtaining visa of European countries”, police have found.
Chayan Barua, 28, who the police said is originally from Ukhia Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh, obtained an Indian passport in the name of Palash Biswas. He was arrested on January 20 while trying to get a visa for a European country, the police said.
Cops probing the case have named 130 people in a chargesheet. Of them, 121 are Bangladeshi nationals who allegedly submitted fake documents to get Indian passports.
These 121 cases were referred to Kolkata Police by the Regional Passport Office, Calcutta, in September last year.
By the time the forgery was reported, passports had already been issued to 73 Bangladeshi nationals because of the police’s alleged failure to spot the anomalies during the physical verification of documents.
Sources said the remaining 48 cases were being processed when the forgery was reported and files could be put on hold.
Chayan Barua, also known as Soy, is the only Bangladeshi national to have been arrested with an Indian passport in the case.
At least 72 Bangladeshi nationals with Indian passports are believed to be absconding.
Kolkata Police have issued lookout notices against 69 such people, suspected to have fled the country.
“We learned during the investigation that Barua has several contacts in many European countries and in the guise of a Buddhist monk or preacher, he and his associates operated a racket and prepared fake documents required to get visas of European countries,” said an officer.
Based on his statement, the police recovered incriminating documents from a hideout in Madhyamgram, Barasat.
Documents that ascertain his Bangladeshi identity and other articles like fake bank seals, photocopies of allegedly fraudulent identity cards, bank documents and passports were seized from the hideout, said a police officer.
“Our preliminary inquiry has confirmed Barua’s involvement and also established that he used to pose as a monk to run the passport racket,” a senior officer at Lalbazar said.
“We are trying to find more information about him. He could get us valuable information about other applicants who were yet to obtain their passports and could be still hiding in India,” said the officer.