CBI questions CAPF personnel who allegedly used fake certificates to get jobs | Kolkata
Mar 17, 2025 06:16 PM IST
The recruits under scanner allegedly used forged documents showing them as West Bengal residents because cut-off marks are lower by around 25% in West Bengal since it is a border state
Kolkata: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has traced around 140 people from central and north India who are suspected to have used forged documents showing them as West Bengal residents to get jobs in various central paramilitary forces in recent years, officials of the federal agency said.
The CBI probe was ordered by the Calcutta high court in August 2023. The investigation gained pace after January 31 this year when the agency arrested a key suspect who worked for the Army.
“Around 30 constables from the Border Security Force (BSF), Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) and Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) were summoned to the CBI’s Kolkata office and questioned over the last couple of weeks. More people are being summoned,” an official said on condition of anonymity.
“Most of these people are from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. They appeared for the recruitment tests here because cut-off marks are lower by around 25% in West Bengal since it is a border state. The cut-off marks are even lower for scheduled caste (SC) and other backward classes (OBC) candidates,” the official added.
The recruits under scanner allegedly paid anything between ₹5 and 6 lakhs to a racket that provided them with fake domicile certificate, Bengal school board exam certificate and caste certificate. They appeared for the tests between 2021 and 2023.
Mahesh Kumar Choudhary, the suspected mastermind who worked as a sepoy at the Army engineering depot at Kankinara in Bengal’s North 24 Parganas district, was arrested on January 31. A designated CBI court in Kolkata released him on bail on February 21.
The high court ordered the CBI probe after hearing a petition that Bishnu Chowdhury, a resident of Hooghly district, filed in November 2022.
Chowdhury alleged that some people got jobs in the Army as well using fake documents. The CBI, however, told the court that no such evidence was found.
The CBI has conducted multiple raids at various parts of Bengal since February.
