TIRUPPUR: A day after three Bangladesh nationals were arrested for illegal stay in the city using forged Aadhaar and PAN cards, Commissioner of Tiruppur City Police S Lakshmi said the department suspects some gazetted officers may be helping foreign nationals by issuing bonafide letters to get address proof. In this regard, police plan to summon a government doctor for inquiry.
Based on a tip off, city police on Thursday arrested two men and a woman who had crossed into the country from Bangladesh in 2021 and were staying in Tiruppur for the last two years. Aadhaar and PAN cards were confiscated from them. Investigation, revealed that a local tout Marimuthu (42) helped them get the cards and police arrested him.
“Marimuthu writes petitions sitting in front of government offices. This made him well-acquainted with government officials. Using this, Marimuthu helps people coming to Tiruppur without documents to get Aadhaar cards at local addresses. He charges Rs 3,000 to Rs 7,000 for this.” sources said.
A local address proof is necessary to get Aadhaar card. For this, bonafide letters from gazetted officers should be produced. Police sources said during investigation, it came to light that a government doctor in Palladam, who is a gazetted officer, and other government officials had been helping Marimuthu. Police suspect Marimuthu may have helped nearly 100 foreign nationals, mostly from Bangladesh, to get Aadhaar cards in the last four years using his links with gazetted officers . They have decided to take Marimuthu into custody for interrogation.
Commissioner S Lakshmi told TNIE, “We are going to take Marimuthu into custody soon in this matter. Along with that, we are going to send summons to the government doctor from Palladam.”