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Kolkata, Nov 3 (IANS) The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Monday raided the house of a carpenter in Chakdaha in West Bengal’s Nadia district in connection with the investigation into the fake passport case.
According to ED sources, the searches were conducted at the premises of Biplab Sarkar, who is suspected to be an agent in issuing fraudulent passports. The raids are being conducted as part of the investigation into a case involving Pakistani national Azad Malik, who was arrested earlier this year.
Sources said Biplab Sarkar’s name came up during the interrogation of middleman Indu Bhushan Halder, arrested last month for helping foreigners get Indian identity documents (passports) in exchange for money. Biplab Sarkar’s family members are also under investigation for their involvement in these activities.
The ED team reached Parari village of Chakdaha this morning and directly reached Biplab Sarkar’s house. As soon as they entered his simple mud house, the search began. The team also got passports.
ED is investigating how the fake passports were made and where all the people traveled. Sarkar’s family members were also interrogated.
It is noteworthy that Pakistani citizen Azad Malik was arrested in the fake passport case earlier this year. At that time, the ED had conducted searches at several locations near the India-Bangladesh border in North 24 Parganas and Nadia districts.
Monday’s search is also based on the same sources. Last month, an accused named Indu Bhushan Halder was arrested in Nadia in a passport fraud case. Indu Bhushan had got Azad Mallik’s Indian passport renewed.
Sources said that Biplab Sarkar is linked to Indu Bhushan and it was revealed that around 350 fake passport applications were made from Indu Bhushan’s cyber café in Chakdaha.
Based on the same information, ED raided Sarkar’s house. Although he works as a carpenter, investigators are probing whether he has any Bangladeshi links. The reason is that Indu Bhushan also used to make fake photo identity cards in many cases.
The investigators are examining the travel history and all his bank transactions. Officials are also examining the documents and passports of his brother Bipul Sarkar and his family members. His travel history is also being checked. Government mobile phones are also being scanned.
The police started investigating the fake Indian passport racket operating from West Bengal late last year and have made several arrests.
Later, ED also took over the investigation in view of the money laundering angle in the case.
In April, ED officials made a major breakthrough in the case by arresting Azad Malik.
The investigation by ED officials revealed that apart from running hawala and fake Indian passport rackets, Mullick was also involved in arranging fake visas of foreign countries for people wishing to travel to those countries.
The state police had already filed a chargesheet in the case, naming 130 persons as accused in the case; Out of which 120 were illegal Bangladeshi infiltrators.
The police has also issued a lookout notice against him.
–IANS
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