Malda, Feb. 23: A Bangladeshi infiltrator currently in a Murshidabad jail has not only managed to get his name enrolled on the voters’ list here but had also apparently attended a hearing called by the election office and collected his voter identity card.

The district secretary of the CPM Jiban Moitra, had filed a complaint with the Malda district magistrate and the chief electoral officer of the state on February 9 and wanted to know how Masud Rana’s name had been included in the final voters’ list of Malda.

“This person was arrested on October 18, 2007, along with others for illegally infiltrating into India from Bangladesh at Harudanga in Murshidabad district and is now in the Jangipur jail in Murshidabad. How could this person get his name enrolled as an Indian voter in the Chanchal Assembly constituency? The records show that he even turned up at the hearing to get his name enrolled. We demand an explanation,” he said. Moitra also alleged that a section of the government staff engaged in the tabulation of the voters and distribution of the identity cards were part of a racket to give Indian citizenship status to Bangladeshis.

Sources at the Chanchal police station said the then Congress panchayat pradhan of Kharba in Malda had given Rana a residential certificate so that he could apply for a voter’s card. The pradhan, Sirajuddin Ahmed, was arrested in 2007 but is out on bail.

Police said the 42-year-old resident of Naodapara in Rajshahi district of Bangladesh had entered India more than once. Rana used to stay in Chanchal with his uncle Tayeb Ali and he also went to Hyderabad, Vizianagaram and Meerut looking for work. According to the police, Ali had gone to the hearing posing as Rana and collected the voter card.

“The Election Commission has been claiming that it was laying stress on drawing up an error-free voters’ list and this has happened. We demand a high-level inquiry. I am sure there are many more illegal entries and those found guilty should be given stiff punishment,” Moitra said. Malda district magistrate, who is also the returning officer, Pramal Kumar Samanta, said the block development officer of Chanchal I had been asked to inquire into the matter and report back to him. “We will definitely punish those found guilty.”