Darjeeling: The arrest of Gautam Kumar Saha, senior Superintendent of Regional Passport Office, Kolkata from Siliguri by the CBI has opened up a pandora’s box. The nabbing of Saha had led to the CBI unearthing a major passport racket whereby foreign nationals were being issued Indian passports using forged Indian identification documents like Aadhar cards.
Many persons, including numerous employees and officials of Regional Passport Office Kolkata are involved in this racket. Raids and arrests are underway to arrest the persons involved.
In the wee hours of October 14, Gautam Kumar Saha, a senior Superintendent of the Regional Passport Office, Kolkata, who was posted at the Passport Seva Laghu Kendra (PSLK,) Gangtok, Sikkim on rotational basis, was arrested by the CBI from Siliguri. He was caught red-handed accepting the bribe amount of Rs 190000 from Dipu Chettri, an agent.
Investigation trails led to Barun Singh Rathod and Sachin Rai, both agents from Siliguri. Nationals from Nepal wanting to acquire Indian passports used to contact the duo. The two used to fake or forge identification documents, including proof of residence, Aadhar, Voters ID card (EPIC) using other associates. Then the passport applications used to be prepared by the two on behalf of the applicants against a hefty sum of money. The amount could be as high as Rs 1 lakh but on an average it would be around Rs 25000.
At the time of verification for cases processed through PSLK Gangtok, Rathod and Rai used to send the applicants to the PSLK after obtaining an approval from Gautam Kumar Saha. In one such instance an amount of Rs 190000 was being delivered to Saha in Siliguri. Saha was returning home to Kolkata. When he was receiving the bribe amount from Dipu Chettri, a small time agent working for Rathod and Rai, he was caught red-handed by the CBI. In the investigations that followed Saha’s arrest, many names have come to the fore of individuals and employees of the Regional Passport Office in Kolkata. Multiple raids in various locations in Gangtok, Siliguri, Kolkata and other places have been carried out and are still underway.
Huge number of fake documents and materials relating to manufacture of fake identification documents, including fake Aadhar Cards, government seals have been detected and seized during the raids. Several arrests have also been made but the names have not been disclosed yet for the sake of further investigations.