Bengal fake passport scam: Pak infiltrator used deceased wife's address to forge identity

Kolkata, May 22 (IANS) Azad Mullick, a Pakistani national arrested earlier this year by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in Kolkata for his alleged involvement in a fake passport and hawala racket, initially secured Indian identity documents by using the parental address of his deceased Hindu wife, Late Suchandra Biswas.

Sources familiar with the investigation revealed that Azad used the address of his wife's family home in Naihati, North 24 Parganas, to obtain the forged documents.

Later, he changed the address in those documents to a residence in the northern outskirts of Kolkata, where he was ultimately arrested.

From that location, Azad is believed to have operated both his fake passport and hawala rackets.

Originally a Pakistani citizen named Azad Hossain, he first procured Bangladeshi citizenship using fraudulent documents, adopting the name Ahammed Hossain Azad. He subsequently used similar methods to obtain Indian citizenship under the name Azad Mullick.

His wife, Suchandra Biswas, died under mysterious circumstances in 2022. Her charred body was recovered from their residence, and investigators suspect foul play, believing she may have discovered sensitive details about her husband's illicit activities.

The ED is now probing Azad's possible connections to terror groups. During a recent hearing at a special PMLA court in Kolkata, the agency revealed that chats recovered from Azad’s mobile phones -- both individual and group conversations on WhatsApp -- contain highly sensitive information.

These messages reportedly identify individuals in Bangladesh who received hawala funds routed from Kolkata.

Given the suspicious nature of the conversations, the ED is investigating whether the hawala network was being used to finance terrorist activities across the border.

During his arrest, authorities seized two fake EPIC cards, multiple forged driving licenses, and four fake birth certificates from Azad’s possession.

--IANS

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