Bengal: Arrested Pakistani citizen also involved in fake visa case

Kolkata, May 13 (IANS) Azad Mullick, the Pakistani citizen arrested in Kolkata last month by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials in connection with the fake Indian passport racket in West Bengal, was also involved in preparing the fake visa case.

This was informed by the central agency to a special court in Kolkata during a hearing in the matter on Tuesday. The central agency counsel informed the court that he used to prepare fake visas mainly for those countries whose visa rules for Indian citizens are comparatively lenient, like Dubai, Cambodia and Malaysia, among others.

ED also informed the court that their officials have accessed multiple bank accounts in the name of Azad, where a hefty amount ranging to over Rs 50 crore had been deposited in phases during the last four years.

The investigating officials are now trying to track the details of those persons who had made foreign trips to these countries by virtue of the fake visas they procured from Azad. As regards preparing fake Indian identity documents, including Indian passports for illegal Bangladeshi infiltrators, Azad used to operate through his own network of agents both in West Bengal as well as in Bangladesh.

ED officials have also secured some highly sensitive information from the individual and group chats in WhatsApp from the mobile phones of Azad that gave the investigating officials a clear idea of the individuals in neighbouring Bangladesh who were recipients of the money routed through Hawala from Kolkata.

Considering that the activities and conversations in certain groups are quite suspicious, ED officials are now investigating whether to track whether the money routed through hawala to Bangladesh was used in terror funding or not.

Azad was arrested by the ED officials at the beginning of April, and then, the documents seized from his possession revealed that he was a Bangladeshi citizen who was residing in India after arranging Indian identity documents, including an Indian passport, by furnishing fake documents.

It was also revealed that Azad, the owner of Mullick Trading Corporation, was also operating a hawala racket from his residence in the city, besides being involved in a racket engaged in providing fake Indian passports for illegal Bangladeshi infiltrators.

However, on April 29, the ED counsel informed a special court in Kolkata that in the face of interrogation, Azad admitted that he was an original resident of Pakistan, who first managed to arrange a Bangladeshi citizenship and subsequently arranged for Indian identity documents.

Mullick’s original name as a Pakistani citizen was Azad Hossain, which he changed to Ahammed Hossain Azad when he managed Bangladeshi citizenship through unfair means.

Finally, in the fake Indian passport, which he managed through unfair means, his name was mentioned as Azad Mullick. During his arrest, two fake EPIC cards, multiple fake driving licenses, and four fake birth certificates were also seized by the investigating officials from his possession.

--IANS

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