Will not allow Bangladesh’s troubles to spill into WB: DGP

Director General of West Bengal Police Rajeev Kumar
| Photo Credit: ANI

Director General of West Bengal Police Rajeev Kumar said on Sunday (December 29, 2024) that the volatile situation in Bangladesh will not be allowed to affect peace in the State.

“We do not want people to use it, (the situation in Bangladesh) to create communal and security problems here,” Mr. Kumar said on Sunday.

The DGP said that border management is the Border Security Force’s responsibility and admitted to “lapses” as people have crossed the border but emphasised that specialised teams have been “effective in arresting and neutralising” such elements.

West Bengal shares about 2,216 km of border with Bangladesh, and since the fall of the Sheikh Hasina regime in August this year, there have been several arrests of Bangladeshi nationals in Kolkata and other parts of the State.

Arrest of terrorist

The police recently unearthed a fake passport scam, and several arrests were made. The West Bengal police is also facing the heat over the arrest of an alleged militant associated with a terror outfit from Kashmir from Canning in West Bengal. 

Speaking to the media, Mr. Kumar said that the West Bengal police had played a crucial role in apprehending the militant.

“We tracked the Kashmiri militant for two days based on information provided by the Special Task Force of the West Bengal Police. We watched his movements. After that, we called the Kashmir Police. We are quietly doing our work,” he said.

On the passport scam, the DGP said that a recent notification by the Ministry of External Affairs has minimised the role of police, and the West Bengal Police have urged different agencies to overhaul the passport verification.

Passport scam

“We have written to the MEA requesting them to strengthen the passport verification system, and we are actively pursuing it. We propose a new system where the district intelligence branch (DIB), local police stations, and senior officers will have a more significant role,” Mr. Kumar said.

The DGP was accompanied by Kolkata police Commissioner Manoj Verma and Jawed Shamim, Additional Director General and Inspector General of the State Intelligence Branch.

Mr. Kumar said that the West Bengal police have an exceptional track record of dealing with extremist elements, including the left wing and urged the media not to “exaggerate things” and “paint us (the police) in bad light.”

In a related development, the police on Sunday arrested the kingpin of the fake passport racket. The accused, Manoj Gupta, is a resident of the Silpara area of Behala and was running a travel agency in Kolkata’s Sakher Bazaar. The accused was produced before Alipore Court and was sent to police custody. 

Several arrests have been made in connection with the fake passport scam. Bangladeshi nationals secured illegal identities to stay in India and used these to travel the globe. The police have seized details relating to about 70 fake passports.