Kolkata, May 21
Foreign nationals, mainly Bangladeshis, enrolled in the voters' list in West Bengal with forged documents, are being tracked, police said on Wednesday.
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.