The CBI has registered 12 cases against 14 officials, including passport assistants/senior passport assistants posted at Passport Seva Kendras in Mumbai on charges of large-scale “collusive corruption” by allegedly issuing the identity document in lieu of money and compromising national security, sources said.
“The agency has unearthed a corruption racket involving middlemen and officials of the centres in Lower Parel and Malad in Mumbai. The agency has also booked 18 agents and middlemen in its 12 FIRs,” said a CBI official.
According to him, these officers were in regular contact with passport facilitation agents and conspired with them to obtain undue advantage for issuing passports based on inadequate or incomplete documents or by manipulating the personal particulars of passport applicants.
The alleged corruption was detected during a joint surprise check with the vigilance department of the external affairs ministry at the Passport Seva Kendras (PSKs) on June 26, sources said.
An analysis of mobile phones, social media chats and UPI payments showed some suspicious transactions worth several lakhs.
The accused PSK officials are in the ranks of junior and senior passport assistants and were allegedly acting in connivance with various passport facilitation agents and touts and received illegal gratification in their own or their family members’ bank accounts, agency officials said.
