Bengal fake passport racket: retired cop cleared 52 fake applications

Kolkata: Abdul Hai, a retired assistant inspector previously with the Kolkata Police's Security Control Organisation, was arrested this year for his alleged role in a fake passport racket in West Bengal. According to reports, Hai cleared police verifications for at least 52 fake passport applications, reportedly in exchange for cash payments.

A charge sheet filed by the police in a lower court in Kolkata on Thursday has revealed the involvement of a retired cop in a fake passport racket.

According to sources familiar with the developments, the charge sheet includes details of the financial benefits Abdul Hai received from clearing police verifications for 52 fake passport applications, for which he was the designated on-ground inquiry or verification officer.

After the arrest of Hai in January this year, the role of five other verification officers attached to different police stations also came under the scanner of the investigation officials.

Although the five verification officers are under investigation, their names have not been included in the current charge sheet, as the inquiry against them is still ongoing. They may be named in a supplementary charge sheet, pending the completion of the investigation.

The charge sheet has named a total of 130 individuals, comprising 120 Bangladeshi residents and 10 Indian nationals, who are allegedly involved in the fake passport racket.

The charge sheet alleges that the 120 Bangladeshi nationals created fake Indian passports by submitting forged documents and paying large sums of money.

The 10 Indian nationals are accused of facilitating the creation of fake Indian identity documents, including passports, for these Bangladeshi individuals, effectively aiding their illegal entry into India.

Investigators probing the fake Indian identity documents rackets have uncovered a distinct pattern in the modus operandi of these rackets in this particular crime.

Any infiltrator illegally crossing over into the Indian territory, contacting the local agents, and showing willingness to pay hefty amounts for getting fake Indian identity documents was first provided with safe shelters at the different villages adjacent to the borders with Bangladesh in the state, both land and coastal.

Thereafter, the agents arrange for fake ration cards for them, which is the first step for making other identity documents. By virtue of the fake ration cards, other identification documents like EPIC, PAN, and AADHAAR cards are acquired. The last step is getting the fake passports on the basis of these other fake identity documents.

(inputs from IANS)