The accused, including public employees and others, had their homes searched, and this resulted in the seizure of numerous damning documents relating to identification proofs and the issuance of counterfeit passports.
The Central Bureau of Investigation( CBI) on Saturday arrested two persons for allegedly accepting backhanders
and issuing passports on the base of “ false and forged ” documents after conducting raids at several locales in West Bengal and Sikkim.
The inquiry agency made the apprehensions after quests at around 50 locales including Kolkata, Darjeeling, Siligiri, Alipurduar and Gangtok.
In a statement issued by the agency on Saturday, a case was registered against 24 persons including a Deputy Passport Officer working at the Regional Passport Office in Kolkata, a elderly supervisor posted at a Passport Seva Laghu Kendra in Gangtok, other public retainers and private persons in connection with the case.
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The inquiry agency has claimed that the indicted were a part of nexus which also included passport agents and mediators. “ The indicted were set up issuing passports on the base of false and forged identity documents submitted by the mediators on behalf of those persons aspirants who arenon-residents of India in lieu of illegal delectation, ” said the release.
During the quests, the CBI allegedly recovered Rs1.90 lakh from elderly supervisor, PSLK Gangtok, Goutam Kumar Saha while he was accepting a fix from an agent grounded out of Siliguri and linked as Dipu Chetri. “ Both the indicted were restrained, ” said the agency.
Officers also recovered around Rs3.08 lakh from Saha during their quests, it added. The quests were conducted at the demesne of the indicted including public retainers and others which led to recovery of a large number of indicting documents related to identity attestations and allocation of forged passports. The arrested indicted will be produced before a competent court.
