Passport forgery right in front of seva kendra at EM bypass, ED raids underway

Tucked brazenly in the shadow of EM Bypass Kolkata's Passport Seva Kendra office, a shadowy online application center has been recovered where fraudulent passports like counterfeit tickets to freedom, prompting a raid by the Enforcement Directorate today that peeled back the layers of one of West Bengal's most audacious corruption rackets. As commuters zipped along the bustling Bypass, ED sleuths descended on the shop near passport seva kendra office, for evidence of a syndicate that preyed on desperate applicants with promises of speedy approvals. This isn't just a local sting; it's the latest chapter in a sprawling scandal that erupted late last year, when Kolkata Police first cracked the case on tips from the Regional Passport Office, nabbing 10 operatives and unearthing a statewide network peddling bogus identities linked to cross-border intrigue, from Bangladesh to Pakistan.

With the ED now at the helm, the raids extended to Nadia district, where family homes turned into interrogation zones, signaling push to dismantle the gang before more lives are forged in falsehood. At the heart of the probe sits Azad Mallick, the master middleman whose arrest earlier ignited this firestorm—a shadowy figure with ties to Bangladesh, where he reportedly slipped in before branching into Pakistan-flavored forgeries, all orchestrated from a humble Kanchrapara cafe that doubled as a document dungeon. For a cut of 12,000 to 40,000 rupees,

Azad and his crew allegedly whipped up passports, IDs, and visas using pilfered proofs, with incriminating chats and scans littering his seized mobile like digital breadcrumbs leading straight to the syndicate's door. In today's Nadia carpenter's house raid, two brothers Biplab and Binanda Sarkar and one other person Bipul Sarkar has been detained by ED. As per reports, one person has been brought to the ED office in Kolkata for deeper digs. In the end, this saga underscores a gritty truth: when corruption camps at the gate, vigilance must pitch its tent right alongside, ensuring no fake leaf goes unturned in the passport to progress.