Fake passport racket: Cops tracking foreign nationals enrolled in voters' list in Bengal

Sources said the investigating officials have received some specific names of such foreign nationals whose fake Indian identity documents, including Electors Photo Identity Cards (EPIC) cards, AADHAAR cards, and even Indian passports, were arranged by Azad Mullick, a Pakistani citizen recently arrested by the officials of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in Kolkata.

Azad, a Pakistani citizen, first arranged Bangladeshi citizenship for himself and subsequently Indian citizenship, using forged documents.

Investigation revealed that Mullick was enrolled as a voter of Dum Dum-Uttar Assembly constituency in North 24 Parganas district, which is again one of the seven Assembly constituencies under Dum Dum Lok Sabha constituency.

Investigation also revealed that he had voted twice, first in the 2021 West Bengal Assembly election and then in the 2024 Lok Sabha election.

Now, the sources added, further investigation revealed that Azad was not the only one to become an "Indian voter" with forged documents.

All of them, the sources added, had voted in subsequent elections in the past with the clear intention of establishing their Indian citizenship, which they arranged for through unfair means and forged documents.

At the same time, the investigating officials are also trying to bust agents' rackets operating at different hospitals, village panchayats, and municipalities, whose only task is to arrange fake birth certificates for illegal Bangladeshi infiltrators.

Similar agents' network in offices of the state Food and Civil Supplies Department, whose task is to arrange fake ration cards for illegal Bangladeshi infiltrators, was also being probed.

Investigation revealed that the fake birth certificates and fake ration cards are the roots of preparing more Indian identity documents for such infiltrators.

The cops investigating the fake Indian identity document rackets have identified a specific pattern in the operations of such rackets in this particular chain of crime.

Infiltrators illegally crossing over to the Indian territory, contacting the local agents, and showing willingness to pay out hefty amounts for getting fake Indian identity documents are first provided with safe shelters at the different villages adjacent to the borders with Bangladesh in the state, both land and coastal.

Thereafter, the agents arrange for fake birth certificates and fake ration cards, which is the first step for making other identity documents like EPIC cards, AADHAR cards, and PAN cards. The last step is getting the fake passports based on these other fake identity documents.