Kolkata, Jan 2 (IANS): Kolkata Police have started the process of investigation against the police personnel accused of conducting a lackadaisical "police verification" process resulting in the issuance of fake Indian passports to illegal Bangladeshi infiltrators.

Insiders from the city police said that there are already two such personnel who were assigned the tasks of "police verification" in the matter.

One of the two personnel had already been questioned by the investigating officials and the other will also be questioned within a day or two.

The charge against the two is that they did not physically make spot visits to the residences of certain passport applicants before submitting the clearance report on this count.

The police department was already under pressure to initiate a probe against such erring personnel after a city court presided over by the chief judicial magistrate, last week, directed investigating officers to probe their colleagues in relevant police stations.

These officers had been tasked with verifying the details of individuals who later obtained fake passports using fraudulent identities.

The chief judicial magistrate underscored the need to hold police personnel accountable, emphasising that the integrity of the verification process is essential.

Investigators have been instructed to explore whether procedural lapses or complicity by police officers enabled the issuance of these fake passports.

Since December 15 last year, till date, a total of eight persons have been arrested for their involvement with rackets engaged in arranging fake Indian identity documents, including Indian passports, for illegal Bangladeshi infiltrators.

A number of public distribution system (PDS) dealers are also under scanner for helping in the process of getting fake ration cards for such illegal infiltrators.

In fact, getting fake ration cards was the foundation in the entire chain of securing other fake Indian documents with passports being the last step on the count.