CBI is investigating fake passport scam, expressed this suspicion

Kolkata: CBI officials investigating the fake passport scam in West Bengal and Sikkim suspect that the strings of this racket are spread not only within the passport department but also in other departments of the central and state governments.

Sources said that out of the 25 people against whom the CBI has registered a case, 14 are associated with the Passport Department. However, officials of the central agency believe that such a large-scale racket cannot be run by involving only persons associated with the passport department, it could be very wide spread.

According to sources, since police verification report plays an important role in issuing new passports, the possibility of a section of the police in West Bengal and Sikkim being involved in the racket cannot be ruled out. Sources said CBI officials are now trying to get to the bottom of the scam and identify its spread to other government departments. The agency has already found clues and exposed links to an international women trafficking racket behind this scam.

After the arrest of Varun Singh Rathod from Naxalbari under Siliguri sub-division of Darjeeling district of West Bengal a few days ago, the officials of the central agency have got some definite clues of this link. The CBI’s suspicions in this case deepened as most of the fake passports recovered from Rathod belonged to women mainly from northern West Bengal and nearby Sikkim.