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8th suspect arrested from Nadia in Bengal passport racket: Police

Jan 01, 2025 06:44 PM IST

Dhiren Ghosh was produced before an Alipore court on Wednesday afternoon and remanded in police custody till January 15

KOLKATA: The Kolkata Police arrested a man from Nadia district’s Chakdah area on Tuesday evening in connection with an alleged racket used by Bangladeshi citizens to create Indian passports with fake documents, taking the number of arrests in this case since December 17 to eight, officials aware of the probe said.

Manoj Gupta, the racket’s suspected kingpin was arrested from Kolkata’s Behala area on December 29. (Getty Images/iStockphoto)
Manoj Gupta, the racket’s suspected kingpin was arrested from Kolkata’s Behala area on December 29. (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

The suspect, identified as Dhiren Ghosh, was produced before an Alipore court on Wednesday afternoon and remanded in police custody till January 15.

“Manoj Gupta, the racket’s suspected kingpin arrested from Kolkata’s Behala area on December 29, revealed Ghosh’s name during interrogation. It appears Ghosh helped illegal Bangladeshi immigrants travel to Europe with Indian passports,” a police official said requesting anonymity.

Police said Ghosh claimed to have lived and worked in Italy for almost a decade since 2007.

West Bengal director general of police (DGP) Rajeev Kumar on Sunday said the state has asked the ministry of external affairs (MEA) to strengthen the passport verification and delivery system to plug gaps that emerged during its probe into the passport racket.

The arrests come against the backdrop of the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) renewing its allegations about illegal infiltration of Bangladeshis.

Police said at least five alleged members of Bangladesh-based terror outfits have also been arrested from the state’s Murshidabad district since December 28.

“Police have very little role to play in the verification process. We have written to the MEA and we are actively pursuing it as this process needs to be changed. We have suggested a new system, in which not only the district intelligence branch (DIB) but also the local police station and senior officers will play a bigger role,” Kumar said.

On Wednesday, two Bangladeshi women, identified as Ajmira Khatun and Sirina Khatun, were arrested by the Bengal police from North 24 Parganas district’s Bagdah when they were trying to sneak into their country. “The woman are illegal immigrants. They claimed to have worked as maids in several Indian states,” a district police officer said.

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