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Passport racket in Bengal: Another POPSK staff arrested (Lead)

Kolkata, Dec 18 (IANS) One more contractual staff attached to a Post Office Passport Seva Kendra (POPSK) has been arrested in connection with a racket in West Bengal engaged in arranging fake Indian documents, including passports, for Bangladeshi infiltrators.

Dipankar Das was arrested late Tuesday night from his residence at Behala on the outskirts of Kolkata.

Several gadgets used to make forged identity documents have been seized from Das’ possession.

With the arrest of Das, the total number of arrests in this connection during the last 72 hours rose to five, out of which three are contractual employees of the Postal Department attached to POPSKs, the other two being Taraknath Sen and Deepak Mondal.

Sources from the city police said that from Das’ possession, they have also seized fake documents of two leading public sector commercial banks, photocopies of as many as 36 Indian passports and visas from a particular European country.

In the face of interrogation, Das had admitted that his work was mainly related to fake documents, the sources said.

Das said he was involved in the racket by Samaresh Biswas, another accused in the case arrested by the West Bengal Police on December 15.

Meanwhile, sources from the state police said that already 73 Bangladeshi residents have been identified who were provided with fake Indian passports by these rackets and some of them are currently residing in West Bengal.

Already some employees of certain POPSKs of West Bengal are under the scanner of security and intelligence agencies, both central and state, in the matter.

Sources aware of the development said that the state police have started an investigation based on certain clues that some contractual staff attached to such POPSKs and some permanent employees of the Postal Department are acting as aiding agents for such rackets against hefty commissions.

–IANS

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