Kolkata, Nov 3 (IANS) The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Monday conducted a raid at the house of a carpenter at Chakdaha in West Bengal’s Nadia district in connection with its investigation into a fake passport case.

According to ED sources, the search was conducted at the premises of Biplab Sarkar, who is suspected of being an agent in the issuance of passports fraudulently. The raid is being conducted as part of its investigation into the case linked to a Pakistani national, Azad Mallik, who was arrested earlier this year.

Sources said Biplab Sarkar’s name surfaced during the interrogation of Indu Bhushan Halder, a middleman arrested last month for helping foreigners get Indian Identity documents (passport) in lieu of money. ⁠The family members of Biplab Sarkar are also under the scanner for being involved in the same activities.

The ED team reached Parari village in Chakdaha earlier this morning and went straight to Biplab Sarkar’s house. The search began as soon as they entered his ordinary clay house. The team also got the passport.

The ED is investigating how fake passports were made and where all the people travelled to. Sarkar’s family members were also questioned.

It may be noted that Pakistani citizen Azad Mallick was arrested in the fake passport case earlier this year. At that time, the ED conducted searches at several places near the India-Bangladesh border in the North 24 Parganas and Nadia districts.

Monday’s search is also based on the same sources. Last month, an accused named Indu Bhushan Haldar was arrested in Nadia in a passport forgery case. Indu Bhushan had renewed Azad Mallick’s Indian passport.

Sources said Biplab Sarkar has been linked to Indu Bhushan, and it is learned that about 350 fake passport applications were made from Indu Bhushan’s cyber cafe in Chakdaha.

Based on that information, the ED raided Sarkar’s house. Although he works as a carpenter, investigators are probing whether he has any Bangladeshi connections. The reason is that Indu Bhushan also used to make fake photo identity cards in several cases.

The investigators are checking the travel history and all his bank transactions. The officials are also checking the documents and passports of his brother, Bipul Sarkar and their family members. Their travel history was also being checked. Sarkar’s mobile phone was also being scanned.

The investigation into the fake Indian passport racket operating from West Bengal was initially started by the police at the end of last year, and they also made several arrests.

Later, the ED also took over the investigation, considering the money laundering angle involved in the case.

In April, the ED officials made a breakthrough in the case by nabbing Azad Mullick.

Investigation by the ED officials revealed that, besides running the hawala and fake Indian passport rackets, Mullick was involved in arranging fake visas of foreign countries for people willing to visit those countries.

The state police had already filed a charge sheet in the matter, naming 130 individuals as accused in the case; 120 of whom were illegal Bangladeshi infiltrators.

The police have also issued a lookout notice against them.

–IANS

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