Birth And Death Certificates 'Scam': CBI Writes To Malbazar Municipality Seeking Details

There were allegations of using the municipality's certificate to get Indian identity documents, including passports, following which the central investigative agency started probing the same.

Jalpaiguri: The CBI has shot an email to the Malbazar Municipality asking whether the Afghan citizens were issued birth and death certificates. A list of 15 Afghan nationals has been appended to the email asking for the details of the concerned employees and their phone numbers.

It has come to light that foreign nationals are resorting to illicit means to get Indian passports and Afghas are one among them. There were allegations of using the municipality's certificate to get Indian identity documents, following which the central agency started investigating the same.

According to CBI sleuths, the Malbazar Municipality was under its scanner following irregularities in passport processing at the international level. A CBI team visited Dooars in October to interrogate the owners of some cybercafes in Chaibasa. A municipality employee attached to the birth and death registration department was also summoned by the CBI.

"We have received the communique from the CBI and sought information from the concerned staff. We reply after getting the required information," Ultpal Bhaduri, vice-chairman of the municipality, said.

Chairman Swapaan Saha has been suspended indefinitely by the Trinamool Congress after allegations of malpractices surfaced against him and the recent CBI activities have brought the discussions back to the public fora.