NCP leader Nawab Malik's son booked in alleged visa fraud case

Faraz Malik submitted forged documents, prepared in Kurla, to the authorities for the extension of his wife's visa.

Mumbai, Jan 18: Faraz Malik, son of jailed former minister and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Nawab Malik, has been booked by the Mumbai police in connection with a case related to the alleged submission of forged documents for his wife Hamleen's visa extension.

A case, which was filed on the complaint of a Special Branch officer, was registered against Faraz Mailk and his wife, a French citizen, under the Foreigners Act 1946 and relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code by the Kurla police, ANI reported.

The Foreigners Regional Registration Office (FRRO) during the scrutiny found the documents submitted by Maliks were fake. Subsequently, the FRRO informed about it to Kurla police, a cop told PTI.

The fake documents were created between March 2 and June 23 in 2021, according to the cops. In addition to Faraz and Hamleen, the Mumbai cops have registered case against a few others.

Hamlin came to India in 2020 on the basis of the forged papers provided to her and Special Branch Officer came to know about the forgery during an investigation and lodged a formal complaint with Kurla police.

On the basis of primary information, the police registered the FIR late Tuesday night against Faraz Malik and his wife under various Indian Penal Code Sections including 420 (cheating), 465 (forgery), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating), 471 (using as genuine a forged document) and 34 (common intention) and provisions of the Foreigners Act, the official said.

However, no arrest has been made yet even as a probe is on.

A former Bharatiya Janata Party youth wing functionary in a tweet on Wednesday said the police have registered the FIR against Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Nawab Malik's son Faraz Malik for "fake documents" made for the visa application of the latter's second wife who is a French resident.

"Those who accuse others of cheating, how fake they themselves are," the functionary tweeted targeting Nawab Malik.

The Enforcement Directorate had arrested Nawab Malik in February last year in an alleged money laundering case linked to a land deal in which fugitive gangster Dawood Ibrahim and his aides were involved.

The former minister is in judicial custody.

Nawab Malik, who was also the chief spokesperson of his party, was in news prior to his arrest as he had made several allegations against Sameer Wankhede, the then zonal director of the Narcotics Control Bureau, after actor Shah Rukh Khan's son Aryan Khan was arrested by the NCB in an alleged drug bust.

With inputs from agencies