17-05-2025
90 Bangladeshis, including 22 kids, held in UP; 2 foreign nationals arrested in U'khand
Agra/Dehradun/Haridwar: As many as 90 Bangladeshi nationals, including 22 children, were taken into custody in Mathura district for allegedly staying in India illegally. The group was apprehended from brickyards in Khajpur village under Naujheel police station limits in the temple town.
Separately, Uttarakhand police also arrested two foreign nationals — a US citizen and a Bangladeshi woman — during a verification drive.
Acting on a tip-off received Friday evening, joint teams from Mathura's Naujheel police station and the Local Intelligence Unit (LIU) conducted a raid and detained 37 men, 31 women, and 22 children. During the operation, police also seized 31 mobile phones, two Aadhaar cards, four photocopies of Aadhaar cards, and one PAN card.
A senior Mathura police official involved in the probe told TOI, "During questioning, they told us that they had arrived 10 to 15 years ago, crossing porous borders. After that, they moved around in Delhi, Haryana, Bihar etc. They were in Mathura for nearly 3–4 months, while some arrived 15–20 days ago in the city. We've started questioning the contractors and owners of the brick yards where they were working."
He added that some of the children are as young as two to three months.
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Mathura SSP Shlok Kumar said, "A case has been filed in connection with the matter under Section 14 of the Foreigners Act, 1946 and BNS Sections 318(4) (cheating), 338 (forgery), 336 (altering documents), 340(2) (forged document or electronic record as genuine, knowing it to be forged). The Aadhaar cards seized from them are from UP's Pratapgarh and other districts. Central agencies have also been informed about this, and we will move ahead in the direction of deporting them lawfully.
Apart from the arrested people, three other families are also under our scanner; they are claiming to be from Assam and West Bengal, but we are verifying their documents."
On being asked about the detained children, Kumar said, "For kids, lawfully, there are child care homes, but in some cases, we allow them to stay with their mothers."
Meanwhile, in Uttarakhand, police arrested a US national from Pithoragarh on April 30 and a Bangladeshi woman from Haridwar on Thursday.
Both were found to be residing in the state without valid documents.
A senior officer told TOI that the US citizen, identified as Henry Mitchell, told police he had entered India through Delhi on a valid visa a few years ago, but continued to stay even after it expired and claimed he had lost his passport. He was booked under relevant sections of the Foreigners Act and sent to jail. Police have also written to the US embassy to verify his identity.
The Bangladeshi woman, Rubina Khatoon, 30, is alleged to have entered India illegally a decade ago with her then-5-year-old son and relatives, police said. She had been living in Haridwar since 2018, where she met and married Santosh Dubey, a Pilibhit resident working as a daily wager. He allegedly arranged a fake Aadhaar card and other documents for her.
SP (city), Haridwar, Pankaj Gairola said, "Following the revelations, she was arrested along with Dubey. Her 15-year-old son has also been apprehended. She was still in contact with her father back in Bangladesh. We are also collecting details about her relatives living in other parts of the country."
