According to information gathered by the Army, several leads point to a wider racket that aided the flourishing illegal immigration industry.
NEW DELHI: The existence of a wider racket involving officials from the passport division of the Ministry of External Affairs in the sale of official passports to illegal immigrants will be the focus of a CBI inquiry that has begun here.
The CBI inquiry, ordered by Defence Minister AK Antony on Friday, will be primarily based on the findings of an ongoing Army inquiry into the sale of four official white passports for soldiers to illegal immigrants.
DNA had exposed the racket in early November and reported that an accused soldier had named at least two senior Army officers among those who had illegally obtained official white and diplomatic maroon passports.
Prompted by the DNA expose, the MoD swung into action and has now referred the case to the CBI. On Friday, the defence minister conveyed the decision to the Army chief.
According to information gathered by the Army, several leads point to a wider racket that aided the flourishing illegal immigration industry.
It’s now crucial for the CBI to find out the complicity and extent of involvement of officials from the passport division of the Ministry of External Affairs. “Suresh Babu (the accused soldier) has told us the Army side of the story. But he doesn’t know what was going on in the MEA,” said an Army source.
A few leads that cropped up during investigation have fuelled suspicion about the hand of officials from the passport division. Firstly, the MEA has told the Army that the file containing applications and approvals for the issue of official passports to the Army band team is “missing”.
Also, official passports recovered from the illegal immigrants were filled up by Suresh Babu himself. “He was allowed a freehand in the passport division. That would not be possible without the involvement of others,’’ an Army source reasons.
Army officials suspect Suresh Babu may have forged the letters of recommendation from senior officials to complete the documentation for the four passports. That further lends credence to doubts that insiders are involved.
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