KOLKATA: A Bangladeshi national was arrested on Wednesday night by the West Bengal police on the charge of enrolling his name in the voters’ list by forging the enumeration form of a deceased person whose name had figured in the electoral rolls during the last Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in 2002 in the state.
The incident took place at Mathurdangi under Ward 20 in Dankuni, Hooghly district, and prompted locals to hand over the Bangladeshi national to the nearby police station. Dankuni is hardly 30 km from the state secretariat, Nabanna.
Mahasin Khan, a local resident whose name had appeared in the electoral rolls during the SIR in 2002, died in 2015. The Bangladeshi youth, Nadim, managed to buy Mahasin’s enumeration form, filled it and submitted it to the concerned Election Commission office in the area. He filled the form using Mahasin’s name.
Maidul Khan, deceased Mahasin’s brother, came to know about the matter and raised an alarm among his neighbours, who caught Nadim on Wednesday night. Later in the night, the agitating neighbours informed the Dankuni police station.
Maidul alleged that Nadim bought the form by paying several thousands of rupees and pasted his own photograph on it. Nadim has been residing in the area for the past 15 years and managed to get a voter ID card by paying Rs 4,000.
Police sources said he has been arrested and will be produced before the court, where police custody will be sought for interrogation. Police have started a case to investigate how he bought the enumeration form and filled it using the name of the deceased person. Sources also said that some other people might have links with the accused.
H Shabnam, chairman of the ruling Trinamool Congress-led Dankuni Municipality, was not available for comment.