Fake licence racket ‘busted’

Gangtok, July 8: East district police said they had busted a fake driving licence racket in Gangtok with the arrest of a Nepali national from Tadong on Friday night.

Raju Pradhan was produced in the district sessions court here yesterday and remanded in police custody for five days.

Superintendent of police (East) M.S. Tuli said they had received information that a photo studio had been selling fake driving licence for Rs 1,500 each and on Thursday, a plainclothes policeman was sent to the shop on MP Golai Road in Tadong, 2km from here, posing as a customer.

The police said Raju took down all the details from the “customer” along with an advance of Rs 800 and asked him to come back the next day to take the driving licence after paying the balance of Rs 700.

The next day, when the “customer” went to the studio, he was given a driving licence issued in the name of the West Bengal Licensing Authority, Siliguri, the police said.

Tuli said Raju was picked up from the shop the same night and several fake driving licences, laminated cards, a computer and a scanner were recovered .

“A preliminary scan of the computer has revealed a list of fake licences manufactured by the forger in the last two months. We will follow the leads and try to find out if he had any accomplices,” Tuli said.

The officer in charge of Sadar police station said they were trying to find out how many fake licences had been issued by Raju. “Those will be confiscated and people who have them would be booked under Section 471 (using forged document) under the IPC,” he said.

The police said Raju was a drug peddler and was involved in two cases earlier.