Four Bangladeshis arrested in Odisha for forging documents to get Indian passports

Reported by Santosh Jagdev
Bhubaneswar, Sep 18:

Four Bangladeshi nationals were arrested in Odisha on Wednesday for allegedly applying for passports with fake Indian identity proofs and other forged documents, sources in the Commissionerate Police said.

Police did not reveal their names saying it could affect investigation in the case.

The matter came to light after the Document Verification Office of the Regional Passport Office (RPO) here noticed the forged photo identity proofs of all the four applicants and informed the Nayapalli Police on Wednesday about it.

Acting on the complaint, police traced the whereabouts of the applicants and nabbed them from Banapur and Balugaon.

The four applicants, all of them Bangladeshi nationals, had illegally crossed the international border in West Bengal before entering the state, Nayapalli police sources said. They had later prepared the forged Indian citizenship documents, the sources said.

Deputy Commissioner of Police Satyabrata Bhoi said all four had applied for passport to go to a Gulf country to work as labourers. “It is difficult to get a job in Gulf countries with a Bangladeshi Passport, whereas it is much easier for Indian citizens,” Bhoi said quoting information culled from the accused during interrogation.

Bhoi said police at present are looking for the middle man who had helped the accused to make forged Indian documents.