Bhubaneswar, April 21: The state's intelligence bureau has begun a probe to find out the whereabouts of 16 Bangl-adeshi nationals who had managed to obtain passports from the regional passport office (RPO) in the city with the help of forged documents.
The police wing started its investigation after the RPO submitted the relevant documents to them.
According to the officials, 24 Bangladesh nationals were able to obtain Indian passports in the past 18 months from the RPO, Bhubaneswar, by producing forged documents.
"All the passports were revoked subsequently and we have issued lookout circulars against 21 of them. Five of them were arrested from Delhi and Mumbai. We have handed over all the related documents to the police to find out the whereabouts of the remaining persons," said regional passport officer Digbijoy Giri.
Sources said the police would also look into the possible complicity of passport office insiders in the case.
"Twenty-four passports in 18 months is a big number and this would not have been possible without the help of some insiders. Besides, we will also try to find out how the applicants managed to get the police verification certificate required to obtain a passport," said a police official.
In January last year, the police had arrested Bang-ladeshi national Mohammad Basir, 23, for allegedly applying for a passport on the basis of forged documents. Subsequently, the police had also rounded up seven Bangl-adeshi infiltrators from two places in Jajpur district. Basir had even produced a voter's identity card from Jajpur district and a school-leaving certificate from a school located in the same district.
However, further verification by the RPO officials revealed that the voter identity card number was actually registered in the name of a 56-year-old woman called Basant Manjari Bal.
In September 2014, the police had arrested four Ban-gladeshi nationals on charges of applying for passports on the basis of forged documents.
Further investigation revealed that the four applicants had secured the forged documents from a broker by paying Rs 30,000 each.
The cops suspect that the Bangladeshi nationals had been trying to obtain passports from India primarily to seek jobs with better salaries in the Middle East.
"Indian workers tend to get better salaries from their employers in the Middle East as compared to their Bangl-adeshi counterparts. So, that could have been the motive but other motives can also not be ruled out," said a official of the police.