Chats, documents found in phone of Pak national held in passport case: ED tells court

KOLKATA: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) is investigating whether a 53-year-old man, arrested last month for allegedly selling fake identity documents to Bangladeshi nationals, used the funds for terrorist activities, the agency told a Kolkata court on Thursday.

Azad Mullick, 53, alias Ahmed Hussain Azad, a prime suspect in the passport case, was arrested on April 15 from Birati in North 24 Parganas district. He was initially identified as Azad Mullick, a Bangladeshi national.

While seeking extension of his police custody for further interrogation on Thursday, ED told a Kolkata’s city sessions court that documents running into 20,000 pages and WhatsApp chats with Pakistani citizens were recovered from the two mobile phones seized from his possession during his arrest in April, lawyers who attended the hearing said. The court rejected his bail petition.

Azad Mullick has been charged with entering India in 2019 and allegedly procuring Indian identity documents, such as Aadhaar card and driving licence, not only for himself but for at least 200 Bangladeshis for money.

These documents were allegedly used by Bangladeshi nationals to get Indian passports and many of those Bangladeshis went abroad, the probe indicated.

ED told the city sessions court last week that Mullick’s real name is Ahmed Hussain Azad and he was a Pakistani national who entered Bangladesh in 2017 and obtained a local passport before applying for a tourist visa to reach India.

A Pakistani driving license was recovered from his home during a raid, ED said.

Azad allegedly raised more than ₹2 crore by providing illegal Bangladeshi immigrants with Aadhar cards etc. Since the money was transferred to him through hawala, ED said it was probing whether it was used to fund terrorist activities.