KOLKATA: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Tuesday registered a first information report (FIR) into the alleged recruitment of people into the central police forces on the strength of forged certificates of matriculation, domicile and caste in West Bengal.
The FIR was registered on the orders of the Calcutta high court on August 2 following a plea by a man, Bishnu Chowdhury, who alleged that he had been coerced to work with two men to commit crimes. Chowdhury said that he had come to know about a big scam in recruitment of personnel to the armed forces and the central police forces and claimed that some Pakistani nationals may have also been recruited.
A preliminary inquiry conducted by CBI during the pendency of the petition did not find any evidence of wrongdoing in recruitment into the armed forces. But it came across four cases where forged documents may have been used in central police forces
“The state of West Bengal being a bordering state provides for less cut-off marks in the examinations for employment in CPMF. This seems to have prompted people from other states, especially from the northern parts of the country to forge documents to show that were domiciled in West Bengal. Domicile certificates, matriculation certificates and caste certificates have bene forged. It will be a matter of more in-depth investigation whether foreign nationals have also taken recourse to the same modus operandi in applying for jobs in the Indian Forces,” the deputy solicitor general representing the CBI, told the court.
“Let the CBI register a formal criminal case into the alleged offences involving illegal recruitment of personnel in the CPMF using forged documents and thereafter investigate into the same,” justice Jay Sengupta said in the verdict.
{{/usCountry}}“Let the CBI register a formal criminal case into the alleged offences involving illegal recruitment of personnel in the CPMF using forged documents and thereafter investigate into the same,” justice Jay Sengupta said in the verdict.
{{/usCountry}}The FIR was registered against Mahesh Kumar Chowdhury, a resident of North 24 Parganas and Raju Gupta, a resident of Howrah along with unknown public servants and private persons under sections 120B (criminal conspiracy), 420 (cheating), 467 (forgery) and 506 (criminal intimidation) among others of the Indian Penal Code.