Passport scam: CBI raids 50 locations in Bengal, Gangtok; 24 booked

Kolkata/ New Delhi, Oct 14 (PTI) The CBI is conducting searches at 50 locations in West Bengal and Gangtok, and booked 24 people including government officials for allegedly issuing passports on the basis of forged documents, officials said on Saturday.

The CBI has detained an official posted in Gangtok and also a middleman, they said.

CBI detectives continued raids at the passport office in Kolkata, besides places in Salt Lake and Howrah.

The central agency conducted a surprise raid at the residence of a person at Uluberia in Howrah district in the wee hours of Saturday.

He was questioned for nearly six hours after which the CBI sleuths took him away with them, the officer said.

"The man is an employee of the passport office. We raided his residence in Uluberia this morning and grilled him," the officer told PTI.

The FIR names 24 individuals including 16 officials who were allegedly issuing passports on the basis of forged documents to ineligible persons, including non-residents, in return for bribes, they said.

The searches are spread across Kolkata, Siliguri, Gangtok, and other locations, they said. PTI SCH ABS VN NN