The couple had come to India, along with their minor daughter, from France to attend the last rites of woman's father, said the police. (File photo)An Indian couple who had secured asylum in France with forged Bangladeshi citizenship documents was caught at the Delhi airport on July 8, according to officials. They were identified as West Bengal natives Biswajit and his wife Rinku Das.
The couple had come to India, along with their minor daughter, from France to attend the last rites of Rinku’s father, said the police. They were caught with the possession of Indian passports as well as French travel documents when they were at the immigration counter for their return to France, the police said.
According to the police, the couple was in Qatar in 2018, where they allegedly met an agent who said he could help them get asylum in France. Deputy commissioner of police Tanu Sharma (Indira Gandhi International Airport): “They were told by this agent that if they had Bangladeshi documentation, it would be easy to obtain asylum in France. He did this for them for a price of around Rs 8-9 lakh… They had subsequently been residing in France.”
“The matter appeared suspicious because they had earlier travelled using Indian passports but in this case they were making use of French documents. The couple was subsequently interrogated about the matter,” the DCP said.
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The police said that while the French documents had the surname ‘Sarkar’, the Indian passports in their possession had the surname ‘Das’. Biswajit was taken into police custody while Rinku was taken into judicial custody. Their daughter was handed over to other family members.
The police said that a case was filed under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 420 (cheating), 468 (forgery for cheating) 471 (using forged documents as genuine) as well as section 12 of the Passport Act (various offences and penalties).
The DCP said: “Further investigation in the matter is going on. The Bangladesh embassy has also been informed and we are in contact with the passport office.”
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