Bangladeshi Citizens Forged Documents To Vote In Lok Sabha Polls, Reveals Maharashtra ATS Probe

The Maharashtra ATS has arrested four Bangladeshis for using fake Indian passports to vote in Lok Sabha elections. The passports were forged in Gujarat.

Four Bangladeshis have been nabbed for allegedly voting in the Lok Sabha elections using fake documents.

Source : Representative pic: ABP Live AI

An investigation by the Maharashtra anti-terrorist squad has revealed that Bangladeshi citizens voted in Lok Sabha elections using fake passports. Maharashtra ATS has arrested four people in this case so far. The investigation further revealed that all the Bangladeshi citizens used to forge passports in Gujarat. A few suspects used the fake passports to move abroad and secure jobs. The ATS is now probing the foreign connections.

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The accused have been identified as Riyaz Hussain Sheikh (33), Sultan Siddique Sheikh (54), Ibrahim Shafiullah Sheikh (46), and Farooq Osmangani Sheikh (39). While Riyaz, an electrician, used to live in the Yamuna Nagar area of Lokhandwala, Andheri (West), Sultan, an autorickshaw driver, used to live in Malad, Mumbai. Ibrahim was a vegetable vendor and a resident of the MHADA Colony in Mahul (Chembur East), Mumbai. Farooq used to live in Jogeshwari, Western Mumbai.

The ATS investigation revealed that the four were residents of Noakhali district in Bangladesh. The ATS has registered a case under sections 465, 468, 471, and 34 of the IPC and Section 12 (1A) of the Indian Passport Act.

The accused used the fake passports to procure voting cards and cast votes in the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections. After preparing the fake documents in Gujarat, they set up their base in Mumbai. Five other Bangladeshis have been identified in this case, all are absconding and a search is on. One of the Bangladeshi suspects fled to Saudi Arabia using the fake document.

Riyaz and Sultan are learnt to have voted in Mumbai.

The Maharashtra ATS produced the suspects at the Mazgaon court in Mumbai to seek their remand. Farooq Sheikh was sent to police custody till June 14 while the others were remanded to judicial custody.