More than 240 passports have been issued in Bengal apparently without proper verification by police, sources in the passport office said.

The identity documents filed with these applications have turned out to be fake, the sources said.

In another 160-odd applications, the identity documents were “faulty” but the Calcutta passport office spotted the errors before the passports were issued.

Sources in the police said the discrepancies were brought to their notice by the Calcutta Regional Passport Office, which hinted at loopholes in the police verification process.

It has now been made mandatory for the officers engaged in the verification process to visit the applicants’ homes to verify the address, instead of asking the applicants to visit the local police station.

“We have to mandatorily visit the address of the applicant. We have also been asked to be more strict when it comes to checking the antecedents of an applicant. Even if there is a change in the surname of the applicant, it will be mandatory to submit the affidavit,” said an officer at a police station in central Calcutta.

Around the time the flaws emerged in the police process, Kolkata Police stumbled on a racket manufacturing fake documents that were used to obtain passports. Four persons have been arrested so far.

The process of issuing a passport starts with an applicant applying for the "blue book" through an online application at the Passport Seva Kendra (PSK) or making an application at a post office Passport Seva Kendra (POPSK).

The applicant has to appear before the PSK with identity documents, such as Aadhaar card, driving licence and electricity bill, and the mark sheet of Madhyamik or equivalent exams, and submit them.

If passport officials find the documents adequate, the file is sent to the police to verify the papers and find out whether the applicant has any criminal antecedents, and for physical verification of the candidate.

In the case of POPSK, the documents are submitted at the post office from where they are uploaded to the system and sent for police verification.

Sources in the police said some of the officers assigned the task of verifying a candidate’s background call the applicants to the police stations or the district intelligence branch offices, instead of visiting the addresses mentioned in the applications.

“If an applicant is called to the police station, there is very little scope for the officer to verify sitting there if the documents are fake or genuine. For example, he may not be able to verify whether the applicant lives at the address mentioned in the document. This can be verified only if the officer physically visits the address and makes an inquiry in the locality,” said an officer in the state intelligence branch.

The police had allegedly approved without any adverse report many cases where the verification was inadequate and faulty documents were produced.

Once the police submit the police verification report without any objection, the application is processed to the next level and the file automatically goes to the printing queue, passport officials said.

An internal scrutiny of passport applications by the Calcutta Regional Passport office found discrepancies in at least 400 files, sources said.

Of these, 240 passports had been issued following a "no-objection" report from the police. The remaining 160 were under process when the discrepancies were spotted.

Although it is the police's job to verify the documents, the passport office has been carrying out random checks and making efforts to verify the documents during the interview at the PSKs.

Calcutta Regional Passport officer Ashish Middha said: “As a matter of abundant precaution, we are examining the documents at all levels. Additional documents that may be required are also being sought from applicants to cross-verify in case there is any doubt with the identity documents.”

Officers said Aadhaar cards had been forged in most cases.

A text message from this newspaper, about the alleged lacunae in the police’s role, to a joint commissioner of Kolkata Police who looks after the passport department was unanswered till Tuesday evening.