The Calcutta High Court on Friday directed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to conduct an investigation into fake stamp papers being used in West Bengal. The Division Bench of Chief Justice Jaynarayan Patel and Justice Sombudha Chakraborty directed the CBI to file a report on the status of the probe within 12 weeks. A PIL was filed by one Bikash Dutta alleging that fake stamp papers are being sold at several places,including the courts of North 24-Parganas district,but the police take no action. In the petition,Dutta said he had decided to hand over 1,500 sq ft of land through a gift deed to his younger brother,who contacted an advocate,Jasbir Hussain,to prepare the deed for the same. But Hussain prepared the gift deed for the land of about 20,000 sq ft. The petitioner said he was confused as to why Hussain prepared the deed for about 20,000 sq ft of land instead of 1,500 sq ft. Dutta submitted that he felt the stamp paper used for the deed was not genuine. He then filed an RTI application ar Kolkata Collectorate mentioning the number of the stamp paper to know if it was genuine or not. The Kolkata Collectorate informed Dutta that no stamp paper of the mentioned number had been issued and it was,therefore,fake. Following that Dutta contacted West Bengal Bar Council to know about the identity of Hussain. The Bar Council informed that Hussain was not registered with Bar Council and was not an advocate either. Dutta then lodged a complaint with the police. However,according to Dutta,the police did not take any action. The incident,Dutta said,proved the existence of a racket of fake stamp papers in the state.
