A passport applicant who allegedly furnished a fake birth certificate in his passport application has been named in a case started by police. The forgery came to light during police verification.

An FIR has been drawn up against the applicant for submitting a fake document to get a passport.

The police said Sheikh Sahil, a resident of the Garden Reach police station area, submitted an online application for a passport and went for the interview on February 18 this year. Subsequently, the security control office (SCO) initiated the police verification, and his documents were sent to the issuing authorities for authentication.

“The birth certificate submitted mentioned it was issued by the ‘Sub-Registrar (Birth & Death Section), Purba Midnapore District Hospital, Tamluk’. However, when the document was sent for verification, the hospital responded on May 16, stating that the document was fake and false,” said an officer involved in the probe.

Following this, the police submitted an adverse report to the passport office, and the complaint was lodged. An FIR was drawn up against the applicant at Bhowanipore police station on Monday.

A case has been started under sections of forgery, criminal conspiracy, and the Passport Act. Discrepancies in the birth certificate have raised doubts about the applicant’s nationality, a police officer said.

According to police sources, it is not common to formally prosecute a passport applicant.

Under new rules and regulations, the police now send applicants’ identity details to issuing authorities for verification to ensure document authenticity.

“This process takes time, as document-issuing authorities often take their time to respond to our email queries. Nevertheless, it is a foolproof method to ensure that the documents submitted are genuine,” said an SCO officer.

Many passport applicants have complained about delays in the police verification process. The police attribute the delays to the stringent verification process.

“Usually, it takes two to three weeks, or more, for any organisation to verify an identity documents. For instance, Aadhaar cards are sent to the UIDAI, birth certificates are sent to the issuing civic body or health department, and education certificates to education boards. All this takes time,” said an officer.

Previously, police verification was based on physical inspection of documents, without consulting the issuing authorities. However, a recently uncovered racket producing fake documents to obtain genuine passports prompted the cops to tighten the verification process.