At a time when many army officials have not been able to pass the NRC tests in Assam, around 50 young men were caught with fake documents during an army recruitment drive in Barrackpore, on the outskirt of Kolkata on Thursday.
The recruitment drive, initiated by the eastern command, was for soldiers in the categories of technical (ammunition and aviation examiner), nursing assistant, veterinary, general duty, clerk, storekeeper and tradesman.
“But during verification of documents, the army personnel on close scrutiny found that 50 candidates so far had submitted fake documents of birth certificates, ration cards, Aadhaar cards, voter ID and educational certificates along with residential certificates. They mentioned they are residents of North 24 Parganas and Hooghly districts,” said a spokesman of the eastern command.
Colonel S. Hemanth, the Army Recruitment Officer (ARO), has lodged a complaint with the Barrackpore police to inquire into the scam which seems to be running deep into the state.
The recruitment rally at RCTC stadium in Barrackpore is from September 15 to September 20. Around 20,000 aspirants had applied for the above-mentioned posts.
A senior army officer of the command said that all the fake documents and mobile devices were seized from the candidates.
“The scam seems to be running deep with tout misleading thee candidates from the rural belts of northern part of India. They appeared with what they were given—fake certificates and documents meant for each state. The touts have certificates for each and every state,” said the officer.
According to the Indian Army, candidates said during interrogation that they had paid sums ranging between Rs 2,000 to Rs 25,000 to agents for getting the fake documents with an agreement to pay Rs two to four lakhs on selection.
“Many of these candidates were lured by professional touts and were sent to Kolkata in the days and weeks preceding the rally to prepare the documents and obtain residential proofs,” said the army officer.
Senior officers in the Army said that the candidates repeatedly fall prey to the lure of touts with false assurance to get them enrolled based on fake documents. The authorities have been rechecking the documents of each aspirant to be double sure about their authenticity.
“There are several touts who are alluring the youth to get them recruited in the Army by adopting unfair means, and the large-scale inter-state fake document racket is highly active in West Bengal and neighbouring states”, the Army has said.
Recently, Assam Special DG Bhaskar Jyoti Mahanta told THE WEEK in an interview that many army, police and even central armed police personnel had entered into their services providing fake documents which made them ineligible in the National Register of Citizens.
