The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Saturday arrested a Gangtok-based Passport Seva Laghu Kendra (PSLK) official and an agent for their alleged involvement in the issuance of passports to “non-residents” of India on forged documents. The agency raided close to 50 locations across West Bengal and Sikkim.
PSLK Senior Superintendent Goutam Kumar Saha and the agent, Dipu Chetri, have been arrested in the case in which 24 persons have been named as accused. Among them is also a Deputy Passport Officer from Kolkata.
According to the CBI, public servants of the Regional Passport Office (Kolkata) and the PSLK-Gangtok entered into a criminal conspiracy with others, including passport agents and middlemen, to issue passports based on forged identity documents, in lieu of illegal gratification.
The papers were submitted by middlemen on behalf of the applicants who are non-residents of India. The agency seized from the accused Senior Superintendent ₹1.90 lakh in cash, which he had received from the agent in West Bengal’s Siliguri. Subsequently, an additional sum of ₹3.08 lakh was found on the official’s premises.
As part the crackdown, the CBI carried out searches in Gangtok, Kolkata, Siliguri, Darjeeling, Alipur Dwar and other places associated with the accused public servants and private persons. During the operation, it seized a large number of incriminating documents related to identity proofs.
