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by IANS |
Kolkata, May 9 (IANS) Amid heightened tensions between India and Pakistan, the Security Control Organisation (SCO) has identified four members of a family residing in Kolkata who were found to have both Indian and Bangladeshi passports.
According to sources familiar with the development, FIRs have been registered against all four individuals at a Kolkata police station, and they have been detained for questioning.
The four have been identified as Vijay Modi, his wife Kasaulya Modi, and their sons, Dilip Modi and Asish Modi.
Preliminary investigations suggest that the family initially entered India on valid Bangladeshi visas and settled in the Palm Avenue area of South Kolkata. However, they continued to stay on even after their visas expired.
During this period, they allegedly acquired forged Indian identity documents -- starting with Aadhaar and voter ID cards -- and subsequently obtained Indian passports using those credentials.
The SCO began probing the matter after noticing that the family had not returned to Bangladesh despite their visas expiring. The investigation revealed that they had continued to live in Kolkata, falsely claiming Indian citizenship based on forged documentation.
In a related development, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) recently arrested Azad Mullick, a Pakistani national who had also been living in Kolkata using forged Indian documents.
He is accused of running a hawala racket and being involved in a network that facilitates the procurement of fake Indian passports for illegal Bangladeshi immigrants.
Investigators say that Azad, originally named Azad Husain in Pakistan, first obtained Bangladeshi citizenship using forged papers, after which he illegally entered India and obtained Indian identity documents under the name Azad Mullick. His Bangladeshi identity was established under the name Ahammed Husain Azad.
During his arrest, officials seized two fake voter ID cards, multiple forged driving licenses, and four fabricated birth certificates. The ED has also frozen a bank account in his name, which held a balance of Rs 2.62 crore.
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