Kannur, Sep 19 (IANS) A Bangladeshi national who had been working for nearly a year in the Naval laundry section of the highly secure Indian Naval Academy (INA) at Ezhimala using alleged forged documents, was arrested by the police and Intelligence agencies, raising serious questions over security verification at the strategic military establishment.
The accused, 32-year-old Soren, was taken into custody from the academy following confidential inputs received by the Intelligence Bureau (IB).
Police and Intelligence officials are now questioning him to establish how a foreign national managed to secure employment and remain at the naval establishment for nearly a year without being detected.
Soren had allegedly used a fake Aadhaar card showing him as an Indian citizen and a fake Police Clearance Certificate (PCC) purportedly issued by the police in West Bengal to obtain the job.
Preliminary investigation has indicated that Soren is a Bangladeshi national who entered India through West Bengal after allegedly obtaining forged documents.
The circumstances under which he secured employment at the Naval Academy are also under investigation.
Police are looking into the role of the contractor or agency through which he was engaged and whether proper background and identity verification was carried out before he was allowed to work inside the sensitive establishment.
The arrest comes amid a wider police crackdown in Kannur following the detection of Bangladeshi nationals allegedly staying in the district using forged Indian documents.
Four Bangladeshi women were arrested in Kannur in the past few days after police raided a rented house at Odenparambu. They were allegedly working at a spa in Kannur city.
Police recovered Bangladeshi identity cards as well as suspected fake Indian identity documents from the women.
During interrogation, they allegedly told investigators that they had obtained the forged documents from Assam before travelling to Kerala in search of employment.
With the arrest at Ezhimala, police are investigating whether there is an organised network involved in bringing Bangladeshi nationals into Kerala and arranging forged identity documents and employment for them.
The investigation will also focus on whether there were lapses in the verification process followed by contractors and agencies recruiting temporary workers for the Naval Academy.
