Fake passport racket: Police arrest kingpin from North 24 Parganas
Kolkata (PTI): Police arrested the kingpin of the fake passport racket from West Bengal's North 24 Parganas district, an officer said on Sunday.
Acting on the inputs of those arrested earlier in connection with the same case, Kolkata Police nabbed the accused identified as Manoj Gupta late Saturday night from a house in Chadapara station road under Gaighata police station limits, the officer said.
Gupta is a resident of Silpara area of Behala and was running a travel agency in Sakherbazar, he said.
"This guy has been the brain behind the fake passport racket. Behind his travel agency, he was running the fake passport racket. It is believed that the man was also involved in issuing visas," the police officer told PTI.
Earlier this month, Kolkata Police arrested a contractual employee of the postal department from Parnasree area of Behala.
Before that, police arrested two persons from the North and South 24 Parganas districts of West Bengal.
They seized several fake documents, hard disk drives, a computer, and one laptop, which were used to manufacture the fake passports.
Police had recovered several fake documents during a raid at a house in the southern part of the city's Haridevpur area.
The racket has been manufacturing fake passports, mostly to help Bangladeshis get illegal identities to stay here and roam around the globe.
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Renowned Botanist K S Manilal dies at 86
Thrissur (Kerala) (PTI): Eminent botanist and Padmashree awardee K S Manilal, celebrated for translating the ancient Latin text "Hortus Malabaricus" into English and Malayalam, died following age-related ailments, family sources said here on Wednesday.
He was 86.
He was not keeping well for some time and breathed his last at a private hospital here, they said.
Kattungal Subrahmanyan Manilal, popularly known as K S Manilal, was a former head of the Department of Botany at the University of Calicut.
His decades-long contributions to botany, particularly his efforts to translate Hortus Malabaricus, a 17th century botanical treatise documenting the rich flora of Malabar region (south-western coast of India) into English and Malayalam, earned him widespread recognition.
The treatise remains a vital resource for researchers, academicians and students studying the region's botanical history.
Manilal penned several books and published over 200 research papers besides introducing many new plant species. He is a recipient of several national and international awards.
The Centre honoured him with Padmashree in 2020 for his contributions in the field of science.
