Bengal: Arrested Pakistani citizen voted in 2021 Assembly polls & 2024 LS elections

Kolkata, May 6 (IANS) Azad Mullick, the Pakistani citizen who was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) last month from Kolkata in connection with the multi-crore fake passport racket operating in West Bengal, has voted twice, first in 2021 West Bengal Assembly polls and then again in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

Sources said that the ED investigation has revealed that Azad 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.

They said that Azad, during the ED interrogation, admitted to voting in 2021 and 2024.

When Mallick was arrested at the beginning of April, documents seized by the ED official at that point showed that he was a Bangladeshi citizen who was residing in India after arranging Indian identity documents, including an Indian passport, by furnishing fake documents.

It was also revealed then that Mallick, the owner of Mullick Trading Corporation, was also operating a hawala racket from his residence in the city, besides being involved in a racket engaged in providing fake Indian passports for illegal Bangladeshi infiltrators.

However, on April 29, the ED counsel informed a special court in Kolkata that in the face of interrogation, Mullick was an original resident of Pakistan, who first managed to arrange a Bangladeshi citizenship and subsequently arranged for Indian identity documents.

Mullick’s original name as a Pakistani citizen was Azad Hossain, which he changed to Ahammed Hossain Azad when he managed Bangladeshi citizenship through unfair means.

Finally, in the fake Indian passport, which he managed through unfair means, his name was mentioned as Azad Mullick. During his arrest, two fake EPIC cards, multiple fake driving licenses, and four fake birth certificates were also seized by the investigating officials from his possession.

ED had also frozen a bank account in his name with a deposit of Rs 2.62 crore.

Sources said that ED officials are now investigating whether the money was used for any sort of anti-national activities in India.

--IANS

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