The foreigners’ regional registration office (FRRO) of Calcutta, which works under the Union home ministry, has issued a letter to multiple agencies, including the Election Commission of India, stating that a Bangladeshi couple who entered India with valid passports had obtained Indian identity proofs.

The letter dated July 17 said such documents should immediately be revoked by competent authorities.

The Bangladeshi couple — Krishnakanta Bain and his wife Shilpi Mondal — stayed in Hasan, a village under Goalpokhar-II block of North Dinajpur, with their daughter Manisha, the letter said.

The FRRO's letter states that Krishnakanta obtained Indian voter ID, Aadhaar, PAN and ration cards. His wife Shilpi, on the other hand, had an Aadhaar card, the letter said.

The FRRO's letter has led to repercussions within the North Dinajpur district administration as to how the couple got these Indian identity proofs.

The SDO of Islampur and the BDO of Goalpokhar-II block did not respond to multiple phone calls. Haripada Biswas, the booth-level officer of the booth where Krishnakanta got his name enrolled in the voter list, said he learnt about it on Wednesday.

“I am taking immediate steps to delete his name from the list,” he said.

Krishnakanta's brother Bishnu, an Indian resident who stays in Hasan village, said he did not have any contact with his brother. “My brother and his family live in Bangladesh. Some 12 years ago, they came to the village, but as we are not on good terms, they stayed at a relative’s place,” said Bishnu.

He added he learnt from a relative that his brother was in Calcutta for cardiac treatment recently. "But I don't know how they got Indian identity proofs. I have no contact with them and don’t know their present whereabouts,” Bishnu added.

The couple's current whereabouts are not known.

Contacted on the issue, North Dinajpur district Trinamool chief Kanaialal Agarwala said: "If there is any discrepancy in the voter list, the administration will definitely take appropriate steps. We do not encourage such anomalies.”

Raiganj BJP MP Kartick Chandra Paul reacted sharply to the development. “Despite having Bangladeshi passports, these people got Indian identity proofs. This is a blatant instance of how people from other countries are settling in India. I will raise the issue in Parliament,” he said.