Biswabrata Goswami
KRISHNAGAR, 3 NOV: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Monday carried out simultaneous raids in connection with a high-profile fake passport racket allegedly linked to a Pakistani national.
The central agency’s officers swooped down on a modest mud house in Chakdaha’s Parari village, belonging to one Biplab Sarkar — a local carpenter whose name, investigators say, recently surfaced in the ongoing probe.
According to ED sources, the raid began early in the morning and continued for several hours as officials combed through documents, digital devices, and communication records.
Sarkar’s mobile phone has been seized and is under forensic scrutiny for possible links to the racket’s operatives. His family members, too, are under the agency’s scanner for their suspected involvement in the illegal activities.
The operation stems from an investigation into Pakistani citizen Azad Mallick, who was arrested earlier this year for allegedly obtaining an Indian passport through forged documents. Mallick, according to investigators, was not only involved in procuring fake passports but also allegedly ran hawala operations and arranged counterfeit visas.
Following Mallick’s arrest, ED teams conducted extensive searches along the Indo-Bangladesh border in Nadia and North 24 Parganas districts — regions that have emerged as crucial transit points for cross-border document forgery and illegal migration networks.
The trail reportedly led to Indu Bhushan Halder, a middleman arrested last month for facilitating the production of forged identity documents. During his interrogation, Halder is believed to have named Biplab Sarkar as one of the local contacts who provided logistical or document-related assistance in the racket. Acting on this intelligence, the agency moved swiftly to search Sarkar’s residence.
Local residents of Parari village were left stunned as the ED team, escorted by central armed police, cordoned off the area and carried out the raid. “We were shocked to see so many officers outside his house at dawn. Biplab is known as a simple carpenter. No one imagined he could be involved in something like this,” said a neighbour, requesting anonymity.
ED officials, however, maintain that the operation is part of a larger probe into a sophisticated network that may have enabled foreign nationals to acquire Indian identities through fraudulent means. Investigators suspect that the racket may have wider international connections, with links extending beyond Nadia district.
“The investigation is at a sensitive stage. Several leads have emerged, and further action cannot be ruled out,” said an ED official familiar with the case.
