The Election Commission of India (EC) has begun a probe into how alleged Bangladeshi national Newton Das, 32, apparently became an Indian voter in Kakdwip, South 24-Parganas.

The EC asked the South 24-Parganas district administration to submit by Wednesday a report on Newton’s “true identity” and his voter registration.

District magistrate Sumit Gupta told The Telegraph that a report was being prepared on Newton as directed by the EC and information on him was being verified.

Sources in the district administration said the Kakdwip’s subdivisional officer had been asked to collect all data about Newton, and to file the report, which in turn, will be forwarded to the EC.

The probe was triggered by viral video clips of Newton in an anti-quota rally in Bangladesh in July 2024, which led to the fall of the Sheikh Hasina government.

The EC probe order has embarrassed the ruling Trinamool Congress, particularly after an assistant system manager was recently suspended by Bengal’s chief electoral officer for irregularities in the voter list.

Further deepening the mystery, police sources said that Newton was reportedly absconding ever since the EC sought the report. His mobile phone is now unreachable. Officials of the district administration failed to contact him till Tuesday evening.

The probe was triggered by viral photographs of Newton participating in an anti-quota rally in Bangladesh in July 2024, a movement instrumental in the fall of the Sheikh Hasina government.

Local sources said Newton, originally a Bangladeshi national, frequently travelled to India, often staying at his grandfather’s house in Kakdwip’s Subhashnagar, where he also studied.

After the controversy erupted, his elder brother Tapan Das admitted that Newton was a Bangladeshi national and voter and their parents were also Bangladeshi nationals.

Newton’s alleged proximity to prominent Trinamool Congress leaders, including Debasish Das, the party’s Sunderbans organising committee president, and former minister Manturam Pakhira, has been flagged by the BJP. A photograph of Newton and Debasish cutting a cake at the former’s birthday party has gone viral.

Debasish clarified: “In 2000, when I was a teen, he used to study with me in Debnagar. Then I lost contact with him. I met him again in 2021 after a long gap. Since then, he is well known to me and I attended his birthday partyas a guest.”

In a video released on Sunday, Newton attempted to debunk the viral footage of him in Bangladesh. He claimed: “I have been a voter in Kakdwip since 2014. I have a proper Aadhaar card as well. In 2016, I voted for Trinamool candidate Manturam Pakhira. But in 2017, I lost my voter card, and in 2018, with the support of the local MLA, I got a new one. In 2024, as the successor to ancestral property, I went to Bangladesh, where I unwittingly got caught up in the July revolution.”

The BJP has rejected Newton’s explanation, alleging that he was just one of countless Bangladeshi nationals who obtained Indian voter registration using forged documents.

Sources claimed that in the past Newton had been apprehended at the Petrapole check post with both Indian and Bangladeshi identity cards.

Ashok Purkait, the BJP’s Mathurapur organisational district vice-president, allegedL “Trinamool MLA Pakhira won the poll with the help of such Bangladeshi voters. They have made a mockery of the polls.”

Pakhira, however, denied any knowledge of Newton.