Kolkata, Oct 14 (IANS) The Enforcement Directorate (ED), on Tuesday, arrested a vital operator in connection with a fake Indian passport racket operating from the Chakdaha city in the Nadia district of West Bengal, officials said.

The accused has been identified as Indu Bhushan.

He was also an aide of Pakistani national Azad Mullick, who was arrested earlier this year in connection with the same fake Indian passport racket.

Mullick, originally a Pakistani citizen, first became a Bangladeshi citizen by virtue of fake Indian identity documents of that country.

Subsequently, he became an Indian citizen by virtue of the similar forged identity documents, and in due course, he started running hawala as well as fake Indian passport rackets from his rented accommodation in Kolkata.

Upon questioning by the ED, Mullick named Indu Bhushan as his aide.

The ED officials issued several summons against Mullick in due course, which he ignored.

Finally, on Tuesday, Mullick was arrested by the central agency officials.

On Tuesday, he was presented at a special court of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in Kolkata, and the court remanded him to one-day ED custody.

He will be presented at the same court on Wednesday.

There are charges against Indu Bhushan of being responsible for procuring 300 fake passports for illegal infiltrators from West Bengal, mainly from neighbouring Bangladesh.

The investigation in the fake Indian passport racket operating from West Bengal was initially started by the West Bengal Police at the end of last year and also made several arrests in this connection.

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

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

Investigation by 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 chargesheet 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

src/khz