The Enforcement Directorate on Sunday arrested six Bangladeshi nationals during a cross-border money laundering case investigation. As per reports, some of them were "disguised" as Indians with fake IDs.
The arrested included the "mastermind" of the group, Proshanta Kumar Halder, accused of perpetrating a bank fraud in the neighboring country to the tune of 10,000 crores Bangladeshi taka.
Halder, who has aliases such as Prashanta Halder and Shib Shankar Halder (Indian identity), has an Interpol-issued global arrest warrant against him, the Enforcement Directorate said in a statement. The ED said he held Bangladeshi and Indian passports and another one issued by Grenada.
The others who have been arrested by the federal agency, under criminal sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), included Swapan Maitra alias Swapan Mistry, Uttam Maitra alias Uttam Mistry, Imam Hossian alias Imon Halder and Amana Sultana alias Sharmee Halder and Pranesh Kumar Halder.
The ED produced them before a court on Saturday after it conducted raids against them on May 13.
The raids were "carried out at 11 premises linked to Bangladeshi nationals Proshanta Kumar Halder, Pritish Kumar Halder, and their associates across the state of West Bengal." "Proshanta Kumar Halder was found in the disguised identity of an Indian citizen as Shibshankar Halder," the ED said.
It was found that Proshanta Kumar Halder along with his associates "fraudulently" obtained Indian government-issued identities such as ration cards from the state of West Bengal, voter ID cards, PAN (permanent account number), and Aadhaar cards, it said.
"ED has ascertained that these Bangladeshi nationals have also managed to float companies in India on the basis of fraudulently obtained identities and have even purchased properties in West Bengal," it said.
(With PTI Inputs)
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