The Cyberabad police have asked the Regional Passport Officer to cancel 72 Indian passports obtained fraudulently by Bangladeshi nationals. The police have even asked for Look Out Circulars from the Foreigners Regional Registration Officer.
These circulars can help prevent many of these illegal immigrants from leaving India, and in securing deportation for those already abroad.
In a letter to the Regional Passport Officer, a copy of which is in possession of The Hindu, the Cyberabad police stated that Parimal Bain facilitated 72 Bangladeshi immigrants in securing Indian passports, of which 32 were obtained with a single house address in Bodhan.
Till May 2019, he got passports for 41 persons and charged ₹7,000 to ₹8,000 per person. Later, he started charging anywhere between ₹20,000 to ₹25,000, as he ended up paying more to assistant sub-inspector Anil Kumar.
“Since there is no scope for the citizens of Bangladesh to go abroad on employment, Parimal hatched a plan to provide Indian passports to Bangladeshis for sending them abroad,” police said.
In 2019, he got acquainted with Shahnaj Pail alias Sabuj of New Delhi, who provided flight tickets through his friend Saddam Hussain and visas through one Manoj.
After providing them shelter for a few days in West Bengal, the gang obtained Aadhaar cards for the illegal immigrants who were later sent to Bodhan to get passports and visas. Parimal colluded with Bodhan MeeSeva centre staff Mateen Ahmed Mirza in changing the address on Aadhaar cards without any valid documents, who further helped them in getting passports on local addresses.
Officials said they would also write to the Ministry of Home Affairs, Intelligence Bureau and other concerned authorities on how illegal immigrants were obtaining the Indian passports.
“A letter will be sent to the UIDAI to give access to the Aadhaar data to the RPO for verification of address before issuing the passports,” an officer said.
He opined that such cases would keep coming up if policemen and other agencies involved in issuing passports continue to be in a hurry to issue passports. Due process must be followed, however long it might take, he said.
