Bengal Passport Fraud Investigation: Verification Officers Under Scrutiny

Kolkata, Jan 10 (NationPress) The involvement of five verification and granting officers linked to Passport Seva Kendras (PSK) in the state capital, along with five verification officers from different police divisions within Kolkata Police, is currently under investigation by authorities looking into the fake passport operations in West Bengal.

These ten officers were allegedly facilitating the issuance of counterfeit Indian passports for illegal immigrants from neighboring Bangladesh.

Since the investigation commenced on December 15 of the previous year, nine individuals have been arrested, with the latest being Abdul Hai, a retired sub-inspector of Kolkata Police.

During his tenure, Hai was primarily responsible for conducting police verification for new passport applicants.

According to sources familiar with the case, the interrogation of Hai revealed the involvement of the five PSK-level verification & granting officers and the five PS-level verification officers.

Investigators have gathered details regarding 52 new passports that were verified by Hai, and they are currently determining how many of these are legitimate and how many are fraudulent.

Officials suspect that Hai served as a key intermediary between the fake passport networks and the police stations.

Recently, both West Bengal and Kolkata Police initiated investigations into their personnel for negligent police verification processes that led to the issuance of counterfeit Indian passports to Bangladeshi infiltrators.

This investigation was prompted by a city court's directive for officials to examine their colleagues in relevant police stations. Allegations against certain officers involved in the police verification of new passport applicants suggest they failed to conduct physical visits to the residences of some applicants before submitting their clearance reports.

Investigators have identified a pattern in the operations of these rackets that supply fake Indian passports to illegal Bangladeshi immigrants. Individuals illegally crossing into Indian territory contact local agents and express willingness to pay substantial sums for counterfeit Indian identity documents, leading them to safe houses in villages along the borders with Bangladesh, both land and coastal.

Subsequently, agents provide them with fake ration cards, which serve as the initial step in procuring other identity documents. Using these fake ration cards, they can then obtain additional identification documents like EPIC, PAN, and Aadhaar cards. The final step involves acquiring fake passports based on these other fraudulent identity documents.