Kolkata: The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has provided valuable information to the Kolkata Police regarding the visa of Santa Paul, the Bangladeshi model arrested from Kolkata earlier this week on charges of illegally staying in the country after securing fake Indian identity documents, the MEA said in a statement on Saturday.
Police sources said on Saturday that as per information passed down by the MEA, Paul’s visa expired in 2021, and thereafter she had been living in the country illegally since then.
With his development, questions have started surfacing on how effective is the surveillance of the Foreigners Registration Office (FRO) in such matters.
“We got information from MEA that her visa expired in 2021. We are investigating how she managed to live here even after that for a long time without getting noticed,” a police source said.
As per the rules, when a foreign national comes to the country, this Central office keeps an eye on whether that person is returning following the expiry of his or her visa period.
If a foreigner does not return to their native country, the FRO informs the police.
According to sources, it is clear that they did not conduct proper surveillance regarding Paul.
The officials of Kolkata Police are probing to find out whether Paul was working as a spy in the country, just like Haryana-based YouTuber Jyoti Malhotra.
The officials are probing this new angle after learning through her social media account that Paul went to the India-Nepal-China border and recorded a video.
On July 28, the officers from Park Street police station arrested Paul from a flat in Kolkata’s Golf Green area in south Kolkata.
The police became suspicious after seeing the documents she had provided while applying for a passport.
During the arrest, several Bangladeshi documents were recovered from Paul’s Golf Green flat.
It is learnt that Paul, a model by profession, entered India with a valid visa.
However, instead of returning to her native country before the expiry of her visa, she managed to fake Indian documents like the AADHAAR card and Voters’ ID card for herself during that interim period.
After managing those fake identity documents, she started not only staying in Kolkata permanently but also earning substantial amounts through modelling and acting assignments, city police officials probing the case, said.
Police have learnt that she had acted in supporting roles in some Bengali and Tamil movies during the last couple of years.
She even purchased a property in the southern outskirts of Kolkata, which was jointly owned by her and her live-in partner, a resident of Andhra Pradesh and a Merchant Navy official by profession.
Police are now investigating whether Paul, using her presence in the glamour world, had developed any influential connection within West Bengal as well as in other states, by which she was able to operate openly in the glamour and acting world without causing doubts in the minds of anyone.
It is learnt that even in Bangladesh, she was quite successful as a model and also had won some awards then.
She had earlier worked as a staff member of the Bangladesh-based Regent Airways.
(IANS)
