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The Bihar police arrested a retired cop in connection with the issuance of a passport to Farhan Malik, suspected mastermind of the terror attack on the American centre in Kolkata, police officials said on Monday.
With the issue snowballing into a major controversy, the state police is probing how a criminal was issued a passport in the state.
According to sources, Ramraj Ram, a retired sub inspector was picked up from his native village in Bhijpur district on charges of helping Malik in getting the passport in 1999.
Ram was brought to Nalanda district for interrogation.
Police officials said that Ram confessed to have given a favourable character certificate for Malik on the request of then deputy superintendent of police (DSP) Ziauddin Ahmed 's reader.
Ram was then posted as SI at the Biharsharief police station in Nalanda district.
Ram had attested Malik's credentials in his passport application form to the Patna regional passport office.
It was only after his retirement that the case came to light and a FIR was lodged against Ram and others in October last year.
The Nalanda district police is likely to interrogate DSP Ahmed and his then reader.
It was Ahmed who had forwarded Malik's police verification report to the regional passport office, despite not being authorised to do so.
According to passport office rules, police officers below the rank of superintendent of police are not authorised to forward the police verification report of any applicant directly to the passport office, sources in the home department said.
In Nalanda, investigators will interrogate the official who had issued a ration card to Malik even though he was not a resident of the district, police sources said.
Malik's ration card indicated that he was a resident of Biharsharief, the district headquarter of Nalanda, about 80 km from Patna.
The person who stood witness for Malik will also be questioned, police sources said.
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