Kolkata, Dec 30, 2024-
Manoj Gupta, the agent associated with a fake passport racket in West Bengal and arrested by Kolkata Police, had plans to escape to neighbouring Bangladesh, said sources here.
It was precisely with that motive, he had shifted to the rented accommodation at Gaighata in North 24 Parganas district which is close to the district’s international border with Bangladesh.
Gupta was the seventh and last arrest made by the cops since December 15 for their involvement in the racket operating from the state and engaged in arranging fake Indian identity documents, including Indian passports, for the illegal infiltrators from neighbouring Bangladesh.
Sources from the city police said that following the subsequent arrest in this connection, Gupta, who was associated with a fake travel agency operating from Behala in south Kolkata, became sceptical that his turn of being arrested might be the next one.
Gupta, said a city police official, became even more apprehensive about his arrest after the city cops arrested Dipankar Das, another associate of the same fake travel agency.
Thereafter he shifted to Gaighata in North 24 Parganas, which is not just very close to the international borders with Bangladesh but at the same time, a subsequent portion of the borders is unfenced and hence extremely porous.
It had also come to the notice that Gupta did not rent the room at Gaighata directly from the owner of the house. The room where he was nabbed on Sunday was actually rented to a woman and Gupta hired the room unofficially from her paying some money.
Following all these factors, sources said, the investigating officials are quite sure that Gupta was trying to escape to Bangladesh.
The investigating officials have identified a pattern in the operations of such rackets engaged in arranging fake Indian passports for the illegal Bangladeshi infiltrators. Any infiltrator illegally crossing over to the Indian territory, contacting the local agents and showing willingness to pay out hefty amounts for getting fake Indian identity documents are first provided with safe shelters at the different villages adjacent to the borders with Bangladesh in the state, both land and coastal.
Thereafter, the agents arrange for fake ration cards for them which are the first step for making other identity documents. By virtue of the fake ration cards, other identification documents like EPIC, PAN, and Aadhaar cards are acquired. The last step is getting the fake passports on the basis of these other fake identity documents.(Agency)
