The BJP and the CPI-M have demanded a probe into the Rujira Naroola case pertaining to the “discrepancies” pointed out by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs in documents provided by Ms Naroola, wife of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s nephew and Trinamool Congress MP Abhishek Banerjee. The ministry had issued a notice to Ms Naroola asking her to explain the discrepancies in her Person of Indian Origin (PIO) card and marriage certificate.
Manoj Kumar Jha, deputy secretary in the foreigners’ division in the Union home ministry, issued the notice on 29 March seeking her clarifications on the issue within 15 days. “We have got a copy of the home ministry’s notice issued against Ms Naroola. It’s a serious fraud and we will take up the matter with the ministry,” said Mr Dilip Ghosh, state BJP president.
“We are collecting evidence relating to several other irregularities as well,” said Mr Sujon Chakraborty, CPI-M leader.
When contacted, Mr Jha told The Statesman: “It’s now for the ministry to decide on the issue. The notice has been issued to her on behalf of the Government of India, not me. I can’t comment on it further.”
READ | Rujira Naroola, wife of Trinamool MP Abhishek Banerjee, faces discrepancies in PIO card
“We have just forwarded it to the concerned person and we have no other role in it. It’s now up to the home ministry to decide on the issue,” said Mr Suresh Kumar, in charge of the Foreigner Regional Registration Office (FRRO) in Kolkata.
According to the notice, Ms Rujira Naroola, a Thai national, had been issued PIO card No P234979 by the Indian Embassy in Bangkok on 8 January 2010 mentioning Mr Niphon Naroola as her father in the card. She applied for conversion of her PIO card into OCI (overseas citizenship of India) card in the office of FRRO, Kolkata and was issued the OCI card No. A2B79448 on 8 November, 2017.
One of the supporting documents submitted by Ms Naroola to get her PIO card converted into OCI card was her marriage certificate in which she mentioned the name of Mr Gursharan Singh Ahuja as her father.
The central government has been further informed that on 14 November 2009 Ms Naroola applied for PAN card by filing Form 49A without intimating her real status as a Thai national holding OCI card and mentioning Mr Gursharan Singh Ahuja as her father.