Bengal SIR: CEO’s office finds 14 voters holding Indian EPIC cards, Bangladeshi passports

Kolkata, Jan 5 Amid the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in West Bengal, the office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) has received information about 14 voters who are holding Indian EPIC cards and Bangladeshi passports simultaneously.

Based on inputs and suspicions that these 14 voters might be originally Bangladeshi residents, the CEO’s office had sought information about them from the Foreigners’ Regional Registration Office (FRRO) in Kolkata.

The FRRO, Kolkata, recently wrote back to the CEO’s office confirming that these 14 voters were holding Bangladeshi passports. All of them came to West Bengal with valid visas and did not go back to Bangladesh even after the expiry of their visa terms.

Subsequently, they managed to get for themselves some of the Indian identity documents, one of which is the EPIC card. The CEO’s office had already recommended to the Election Commission of India (ECI) for the deletion of the names of these voters from the final voters’ list to be published on February 14, confirmed an insider from the CEO’s office.

The other actions, as per legal provision, against these 14 individuals holding Indian EPIC cards and Bangladeshi passports simultaneously, will be taken by appropriate law enforcement agencies.

These 14 individuals holding Indian EPIC cards and Bangladeshi passports simultaneously have been spotted in three districts, namely North 24 Parganas, Nadia and East Midnapore, with the first two districts having international borders with Bangladesh.

Since last year, both the West Bengal Police as well as the Enforcement Directorate (ED) have started a massive drive against those racketeering fake passports and other Indian identity documents operating from different pockets in West Bengal and catering mainly to the illegal Bangladeshi infiltrators.

The investigating officials in the matter have detected a unique pattern of operations by such rackets. First, the illegal Bangladeshi infiltrators coming to West Bengal are provided with safe shelters at different villages adjacent to the India-Bangladesh border.

Then, in the second stage, the racket operators arrange for fake birth certificates and ration cards from local authorities for these illegal infiltrators.

In the third stage, the same infiltrators are provided with fake Aadhaar and PAN cards by virtue of the fake birth certificates and ration cards already provided to them in the second stage.

In the final and fourth stage, fake Indian passports are arranged for them by virtue of other Indian identity documents.

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