Arrested Pakistani national in Bengal used name of co-accused’s father to get Indian ID cards

Kolkata, Aug 13 (IANS) Wahab Alam, the Pakistani national arrested in Habra, West Bengal, had used the name of the co-accused Mohammad Izaz’s father to get Indian identity documents, an investigation by the Special Task Force (STF) has revealed.

Sources said that Alam, after illegally entering India in 2012, not only stayed at Izaz’s residence in Topsia, East Kolkata, for a long time but also used the documents of Izaz’s father to secure Indian identity cards for himself.

The Indian identity documents recovered by the STF sleuths from Alam include Aadhaar card, PAN card and EPIC card. All these documents show Izaz’s father as Alam’s father. It is learnt that Alam’s wish was to get an Indian passport for himself by virtue of those documents.

However, that wish could not be fulfilled because of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise in West Bengal.

Being categorised under the “logical discrepancy” category, Alam was summoned for a hearing by the booth level officer (BLO) to establish his credentials. But sensing trouble, he did not turn up for the hearing and instead escaped to Habra in North 24 Parganas district, where he was arrested.

He intended to escape to neighbouring Bangladesh through the international border in North 24 Parganas district, which is fairly close to Habra. It is learnt that during his stay in Haldia, he frequently moved to Nepal, where he owns a small franchise business.

It is learnt that Nepal was an important venue for Alam in his entire plot to enter and stay in West Bengal. He was given assignments by Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) to collect information about the Indian Army, Navy and Railways in the eastern sector of the country.

He first entered India in 2012 via Nepal, where he had got acquainted with Izaz at a mosque.

The investigation has also revealed that Alam used multiple prepaid mobile SIM cards, all of which he procured by using his Indian identity documents. He used these SIM cards to be in touch with his ISI handlers in Pakistan.

The probe has also revealed that the SIM cards used to contact his ISI handlers were destroyed after a couple of communications, and subsequently new SIM cards were procured for that purpose.

–IANS

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