Kolkata: The Enforcement Directorate on Monday has said that it has filed a prosecution chargesheet against Azad Mullick, the Pakistani national who was arrested earlier this year in Kolkata by the central agency officials.
In the chargesheet filed at a special of court of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in Kolkata, ED had detailed the multiple charges against Mullick.
According to a press statement issued by ED on Monday, their officials initiated an investigation on the basis of an FIR registered by West Bengal Police under Sections 14 and 14A of the Foreigners Act, 1946 against Mullick.
To recall, when Mullick, was arrested in April this year, documents seized by the ED official then 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.
However, on April 29, the ED counsel informed a special court in Kolkata that in the face of interrogation, Mullick admitted that he was an original resident of Pakistan. He said he first managed to arrange Bangladeshi citizenship for himself through the use of forged documents and subsequently, in the same manner, arranged Indian identity documents.
Azad’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.
As per the ED statement, the investigation revealed that he procured multiple Indian identity documents including AADHAR card, PAN card, driving license, EPIC card, and passport by submitting forged and fabricated documents.
“During the investigation by ED, it was found that Ahammed Hossain Azad @ Ajad Mallik operated a hawala network to facilitate illegal cross-border remittances between India and Bangladesh, collecting payments in cash and UPI, before transferring equivalent amounts to Bangladesh using platforms like ‘Bkash’. He was also involved in illegal money transfers and document forgery,” the ED statement read.
In addition, the statement informed, that Mullick was also actively involved in facilitating the preparation of visas and passports for Bangladeshi nationals seeking to travel to foreign countries such as Dubai, Cambodia, and Malaysia.
“He collected payments in Bangladeshi Taka, USD, or Indian Rupees and either deposited these amounts into his bank account or transferred them to the accounts of associates engaged in fraudulent visa/passport processing. Further, Azad Hossain played a significant role in the fraudulent activities carried out at certain forex changers (FFMC) based in Kolkata, in which huge cash deposits were falsely represented as proceeds from legitimate foreign currency sales to customers but were Proceeds of Crime (POC) linked to unlawful practices, including the creation of fake Indian identities for Bangladeshi individuals to obtain passports,” the statement read.
(IANS)
