Staff Reporter :
The Election Commission (EC) has formed three separate panels to look into the cases of forged national identity cards involving Rohingyas.
The two teams will focus on technical and administrative aspects and the third committee will monitor two probe bodies’ works.
The technical team will investigate how a cartel forged NIDs for Rohingya refugees, said EC National Identification Registration Division Director General Brigadier General Mohammad Saidul Islam.
The team, led by the EC’s System Manager (Technical) Md Ashraf Hossain, will look into the technical aspect of voter registration.
The eight-member technical panel formed on December 1 includes eight units of the EC, representatives of Institute of Development Affairs (IDEA), Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) and Bangladesh Computer Council.
The seven-member administrative team, led by EC Joint Secretary Kamrul Hasan, will investigate election officials’ alleged links to the crime.
“The team will find out the criminals and how they committed the offence. We will strictly handle the investigations to curb corruption. The committee will also look into the charges of forgery,” said Mohammad Saidul Islam.
A high-powered committee has also been formed to conduct further investigations into the allegations of registering Rohingya refugees as voters.
The EC initiated a probe after a Rohingya woman was arrested in Chattogram while collecting a passport using a fake national identity card in August. The Commission postponed the distribution of more than 50 NIDs following such incident.
Police detained a local Election Commission official, along with her two assistants on charges of assisting Rohingya refugees in obtaining national identity cards and stealing a laptop on Sepetmebr16.
