Indian couple nabbed at Delhi airport for taking asylum in France by claiming to be Bangladeshi nationals

By Ravi Jalhotra
New Delhi [India], July 11 : An Indian couple managed to get asylum in France by procuring forged Bangladeshi citizenship documents but they got caught at Delhi airport when they arrived in India to attend the last rites of their relative after five years.
The couple identified as Biswajit Das, his wife Rinku Das and their minor daughter, all natives of Nadia district in West Bengal was held at Indira Gandhi International Airport for procuring passports of India and France.
Police informed that the couple has been booked under sections of Forgery, Passport Act and other relevant sections. The arrested man is presently in police custody and his wife is in judicial custody. The custody of the minor child has been handed over to their family members.
"We got a complaint from immigration officials regarding the couple for having dual passports i.e. French Passport and Indian Passport. It was alleged that these three passengers were holding French travel documents and they approached for departure immigration clearance to French capital Paris by Air India flight," said a senior police officer.
The officer added that these passengers were holding French travel documents with them. During scrutiny of their travel documents and questioning, it was revealed that passengers obtained French travel documents from France by declaring their previous nationality as Bangladeshi.
However, these passengers were also having Indian Passports along with them. The details of their Indian Passports were obtained. As the passengers were having dual passports the case was registered and an investigation was taken up.
During, the course of the investigation, Biswajit Das and his wife Rinku Das were interrogated and arrested.
"They disclosed that they are permanent residents of West Bengal and their parents are also residing at the address mentioned in their Indian Passports. The passengers departed from India in 2018 from Kolkata to Qatar where they met one agent namely Sandeep, who arranged fake Bangladeshi nationality documents for them," the officer added.
The officer added that they disclosed themselves as Bangladeshi nationals and procured French passports.
In return, they paid a sum total of Rs 9 lakh to the agent. In France, they took asylum and started working there.
Now in India as Biswajit Das' father-in-law namely Parkash Chander Bepar expired hence he came to India to attend his last rights along with his family. He along with his family was apprehended by the Immigration officials at the arrival counter and handed over to the Police, the officer said.
Further efforts are being made to establish the nationality of the arrested passengers and their Indian passport files will be scrutinized at RPO Kolkata, the officer added.