CBI busts passport racket in Sikkim & West Bengal, arrests 2

The CBI has busted a major passport racket in West Bengal & Sikkim and arrested a Senior Superintendent of Passport Seva Laghu Kendra(PSLK), Gangtok (Sikkim) & a private person in an alleged bribery of Rs.1.90 Lakh. A case was registered against 24 accused including Deputy Passport Officer (DPO), Kolkata; Senior Superintendent, PSLK, Gangtok(Sikkim); other public servants, private persons etc. It was alleged that public servants of Regional Passport Office (RPO) Kolkata & Passport Seva Laghu Kendra (PSLK) Gangtok entered criminal conspiracy with others including passport agents, middlemen and in pursuance of said conspiracy, the accused were issuing passports on the basis of false & forged identity documents submitted by middlemen on behalf of those persons/applicants who are non-residents of India in lieu of illegal gratification.
CBI recovered Rs. 1.90 Lakh from Goutam Kumar Saha, Senior Superintendent, PSLK, Gangtok  while accepting the same from Dipu Chetri,a Private Person (an agent) at Siliguri.Both the accused were apprehended.During search, an amount of Rs. 3.08 Lakh was also recovered from the  possession of said public servant.As part the crackdown on the racket, searches were  conducted at around 50 places including at Kolkata, Gangtok, Siliguri, Darjeeling, Alipur Duar, etc. at the premises of accused including public servants & others which led to recovery of  large number of incriminating documents related to identity proofs, issuance of forged passports.