The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) booked 24 people on Saturday after conducting raids at 50 locations across West Bengal and Gangtok for for allegedly issuing passports on the basis of forged documents.
The CBI has detained an official posted in Gangtok and also a middleman, they said.
The FIR names 24 individuals including 16 officials who were allegedly issuing passports on the basis of forged documents to ineligible persons, including non-residents, in return for bribes, they said.
The searches are spread across Kolkata, Siliguri, Gangtok, and other locations, they said.
Earlier, a Delhi court acquitted two men booked over two decades ago for allegedly possessing forged passports, visa stickers and rubber stamps of the Saudi Arabian embassy, giving them benefit of doubt.
Metropolitan Magistrate Ajeet Narayan was hearing a case registered against Suleman Khan and Hasibul Rehman who were booked at the Farsh Bazar police station in 2002.
According to the prosecution, six fake passports, three visa stickers, and five rubber stamps purported to be of the Embassy of Saudi Arabia were recovered from Khan on August 13, 2002.
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