Around 100 identity documents, including Aadhaar, voter and ration cards, were found in a one-storey building in Tangra that earlier functioned as a Trinamool Congress office.
Residents of the neighbourhood said the office had been shut after the election results were declared on May 4.
It was reopened on Thursday by a group of BJP functionaries, who said they found the documents inside a cupboard in one of the rooms.
This is the second such instance of identity documents being recovered from a building that previously served as a Trinamool office.
A few weeks ago, around 100 Aadhaar cards and other documents, including property deeds, were found in a party office at Basanti Devi Colony near Salt Lake.
The recovery of identity documents from multiple party offices has sparked speculation over why such personal papers were stored in political offices.
Some residents of Kulia Second Lane, where the documents were found on Thursday, said several Aadhaar cards belonged to people from the locality. “We have found that many of them already have their Aadhaar cards at home. Then why were their Aadhaar cards, either originals or photocopies, kept at the party office? What was the intention behind accumulating so many Aadhaar cards?” asked one resident.
Police said it was too early to draw any conclusions.
Such documents could serve several purposes, including availing benefits under government welfare schemes.
Many in the neighbourhood also said that the documents may have been used to obtain fake voter cards.
A senior officer of Kolkata Police’s eastern suburban division said the authenticity of the documents would be verified by the issuing authorities.
“We are in the process of verifying the documents. We have asked residents of the area to submit written complaints if they believe their documents were illegally kept by someone without their knowledge or consent. We have not received any complaint till Thursday evening,” the officer said.
The area where the documents were found falls under the Beleghata Assembly constituency, where Trinamool’s Kunal Ghosh won the election.
The party office is located in a congested residential neighbourhood near Canal South Road.
Sources said Trinamool councillor of Ward 57, Jiban Kumar Saha, used to operate from this office.
Calls and text messages to Saha from Metro went unanswered on Thursday.
An officer of Tangra police station said all the documents had been seized and would be physically verified to check whether they belonged to individuals in the area. “If we find these are not genuine, the case will be drawn up accordingly,” the officer said.
In the Salt Lake case, Bidhannagar police had later received complaints from residents of the locality after Aadhaar cards and other documents were found. A case was registered against unknown persons under charges of cheating by personation, cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property, extortion and criminal
conspiracy.