CBI arrests two; busts fake passport racket after raids in Bengal & Sikkim
The searches were conducted at the premises of the accused including public servants and others which led to recovery of a large number of incriminating documents related to identity proofs and issuance of forged passports.
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he would morph the picture on the document by replacing it with the photo of a Bangladeshi national (PTI) The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Saturday arrested two persons for allegedly accepting bribes and issuing passports on the basis of “false and forged” documents after conducting raids at several locations in West Bengal and Sikkim. The probe agency made the arrests after searches at around 50 locations 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 Senior Superintendent posted at a Passport Seva Laghu Kendra in Gangtok, other public servants and private persons in connection with the case.
The probe agency has claimed that the accused were a part of nexus which also included passport agents and middlemen. “The accused were found issuing passports on the basis of false and forged identity documents submitted by the middlemen on behalf of those persons/applicants who are non-residents of India in lieu of illegal gratification,” said the release.
During the searches, the CBI allegedly recovered Rs 1.90 lakh from Senior Superintendent, PSLK Gangtok, Goutam Kumar Saha while he was accepting a bribe from an agent based out of Siliguri and identified as Dipu Chetri. “Both the accused were apprehended,” said the agency. Officials also recovered around Rs 3.08 lakh from Saha during their searches, it added.
The searches were conducted at the premises of the accused including public servants and others which led to recovery of a large number of incriminating documents related to identity proofs and issuance of forged passports.
The arrested accused will be produced before a competent court.
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