NEW DELHI: Delhi Police has busted a forgery syndicate, arresting two agents from West Bengal and Odisha who allegedly created fake Indian documents for those Bangladesh nationals who had illegally entered the country.
The accused, identified as Deepak Roy alias Deepu and S Dinabandhu Patra alias Dinesh, were operating travel agencies in the respective states.
Sharing details, DCP (IGI) Usha Rangnani said the case dates back to the intervening night of March 15-16, when a passenger namef Debasish Pal arrived at IGI Airport from the UAE on an Indian passport. During scrutiny of his credentials, he was found to be a Bangladesh national, namely Debashis Paul, who had obtained the Indian passport by fraudulent means.
Accordingly, the police registered a case under relevant provisions of the IPC and Foreigners Act and initiated an investigation. Under interrogating, the accused passenger revealed he is a Bangladesh national and was working in Bangladesh as labour.
“He was not getting paid enough to support his livelihood there. One of his uncles, namely Pritosh Pal had illegally entered into India 35 years ago and started residing at Chowgacha, West Bengal. In 2020, he also illegally entered India through Meghalaya and visited his uncle in search of livelihood,” the DCP said.
During Debasish’s stay in West Bengal, he came in contact with an agent named Asit who tempted him to go to the UAE for better employment opportunities and assured to arrange his journey and requisite Indian documents for a payment of Rs 1.5 lakhs.
“Agent Asit arranged documents like Aadhaar, PAN, Voter ID and Ration Card for him fraudulently on a fake address in West Bengal with help of an associate, namely Gobinda, on the basis of which he got an Indian passport issued and travelled to the UAE,” the DCP said. After his visa expired, Debashish returned to India where he was detained at the airport.
Both Asit Biswas and Gobinda Chandra Roy were apprehended in March. Their arrest revealed two more names, Deepak Roy and Dinesh, who were actively involved in the syndicate. The accused Deepak Roy was nabbed from one of his hideouts in Nadia, West Bengal while Deepak Roy was arrested from Odisha.
Two held
The accused duo would create fake Indian documents for Bangladesh nationals and facilitated issuance of Indian identity proofs, Indian passports on the basis of forged documents for sending them abroad. Following their arrest, 21 forged passports and blank stamp papers of the West Bengal govt were recovered.