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Time of India
25-05-2025
- Time of India
Driver held for hitting cop with car is illegal B'deshi immigrant
Kolkata: A Bangladeshi national living illegally in Bengal was arrested by Kolkata Police investigating an incident of when he hit an on-duty cop with his car last week. Azad Sheikh (41) was arrested by Kalighat police after the accident. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now While checking his credentials, it was found that he was living in India illegally. He was booked under further relevant sections under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and The Foreigners Act. According to cops, Azad, originally from Sahasaril Bazar in Faridpur, Bangladesh, entered Indian territory illegally sometime after Oct 2023. He has been living in Khassankdaha village in Sandeshkhali. "He confessed to entering India without proper travel documents, like a passport or visa. He had a fake Aadhaar card, with which he obtained a driving licence to work as a driver. We learned the identification documents he had were entirely fake and are checking the genuineness of the driving licence as well," said an officer. Police said that on May 18, around 6.25 am, Azad was driving a private car near Kalighat temple and hit a bike driven by Netaji Nagar police station assistant sub-inspector Susen Das. The accident happened at the Kali Temple Road-Sadananda Road crossing. Das, who was on his way to a law-and-order duty post near Tolly's Nala, sustained a fracture in his leg, facial abrasions, and waist injuries after he fell off the bike on impact. He was admitted to ICU at a private hospital in Alipore, and Azad was arrested following a complaint lodged by the officer's wife. Initially treating the incident as a case of rash and negligent driving, and an attempt to commit culpable homicide under BNS sections 281, 125(b), 324(4), and 110, the cops found that the Aadhaar card and driving licence submitted by Azad were fake. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now Later, during interrogation, he confessed to being a Bangladeshi. Azad eventually narrated how he crossed the Bongaon border by paying a member of a brokerage syndicate in Oct 2023, who then brought Azad to Dum Dum and arranged for him to stay as a paying guest. The man confessed that the broker connected him with someone who creates fake identification documents. Azad's fake Aadhaar card and other documents were made using an address in North 24 Parganas. He claimed he used to drive in Faridpur, and based on his past knowledge and fake documents, he obtained a driving licence and joined a private firm in South Kolkata as a driver. "He admitted that last week, he hit the cop with the car. He admitted that he had dozed off at the wheel when the accident happened," said an officer. On May 21, Azad was arrested in a separate case under section 14A(b) of The Foreigners Act and section 212 (furnishing false information to a public servant) of BNS. He was produced in a city court and was sent to police custody. Cops have also arrested a linkman, Zafar Ali Sheikh, who connected Azad to the broker. He was produced in an Alipore court and sent to police custody till June 4.
NDTV
21-05-2025
- Politics
- NDTV
Several States Begin Crackdown On Illegal Bangladeshi Immigrants
Several states have begun the process of identifying Bangladeshis staying illegally in various parts, as a part of an exercise to deport the immigrants. In Odisha, Law Minister Prithiviraj Harichandan on Monday said the state government has issued a direction to all district collectors, coastal security agencies and formed a Special Task Force (STF) to coordinate the process of identifying the undocumented Bangladeshi immigrants. "The government has taken a tough stand. No foreign national without valid legal status will be allowed to stay in Odisha. The identification process has already begun and will be carried out meticulously in all districts," Mr Harichandan said. He said preliminary discussions with various government branches and agencies such as those employing migrant labourers have been asked to verify their identities and nationalities. "Different engineering departments of the state government have been asked not to engage any Bangladesh or foreign nationals without valid documents," he said. The state government has designated the STF as the nodal agency to coordinate and monitor the developments, besides working closely with district-level officers, coastal security forces and other enforcement units. The districts of Balasore, Bhadrak, Kendrapara, Jagatsinghpur, Puri and Ganjam have been identified as possible areas housing illegal migrants. STF Director General Pinak Mishra said that after the identification process is complete, the government will initiate legal proceedings under The Foreigners Act and other relevant laws to deport the illegal migrants. "Since Odisha shares its border with West Bengal, which borders Bangladesh, we are keeping a strict vigil as there is every possibility of infiltration, be it through waterways or roadways," he said. The Maharashtra government is also conducting a similar exercise with the Mumbai Police saying that 300 illegal Bangladeshis have been deported so far in recent times. Police said 766 such illegal immigrants have been arrested so far this year. Eighteen lakh ration cards were cancelled till May 18, officials said, adding that most of the holders were likely illegal Bangladeshi residents. In Mumbai, 4.8 lakh ration cards were cancelled. "Our government will not do injustice to any such government will not do injustice to anyone except Bangladeshi infiltrators. Action will be taken against those who are eligible for action, the general public will not be harassed," Cabinet Minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule said. Saiddul Sheikh, who says he is from West Bengal, agrees that the police should crack down on illegal entry of Bangladeshis and those who make fake documents but not target labourers like him who have come from the eastern state to make a living. He said he has also made several rounds of the police station for verification. India has adopted a new "push back" strategy to tackle infiltration from Bangladesh, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma told reporters earlier this month. He said the Centre has deported illegal immigrants, including Rohingyas, from different parts of the country, including from the Matia detention centre in Goalpara - one of the largest facilities in the country housing illegal immigrants. Calling cross-border infiltration a "big issue", Mr Sarma said it will be minimised because of the new "push back" phenomenon. "Earlier, we used to arrest 1,000-1,500 foreigners. We used to arrest them, and they would be sent to jails, and then they would be produced before a court of law. Now, we have decided that we will not bring them into our country, and will push them back," he said. Rajasthan Chief Minister Bhajan Lal Sharma had on April 30 directed police to launch a campaign against illegal Bangladeshi immigrants and to ensure their deportation. Subsequently, a first batch of 148 illegal Bangladeshi immigrants rounded up by police was sent to West Bengal on a special flight, as part of the deportation process, police sources said. "These infiltrators were kept at one of the two detention centres set up in Jaipur. In the first phase of their deportation, 148 have been sent to Jodhpur and dispatched for West Bengal for final deportation," one of them said. The source added that 1,008 "infiltrators" have been detained in the exercise so far in 17 districts of the state.
Indian Express
14-05-2025
- Indian Express
2 held for forging documents to get Indian IDs for Bangladeshi immigrants
Two persons were on Wednesday arrested for allegedly forging character certificates that bore signatures of corporators of the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) to help illegal Bangladeshi immigrants get Indian IDs, the Gujarat Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) said. The arrested accused have been identified as Rana Sarkar and Shoaib Qureshi. A third accused has been identified as Robiul Islam. All three were booked under BNS Sections 336(2) (forgery), 337 (forgery of public documents), 338 (forgery of valuable documents), 340(2) (forged documents used as genuine), as well as under the Passport Act Sections 12(1)(b) and 12(2). They were also booked under Sections 14(a)(b) and 14(c) of The Foreigners Act. The ATS had, during several of its raids, recovered 22 character certificates they believe were duplicated and forged, and then produced to obtain IDs for illegal immigrants. While 15 of these certificates bore the signature of Councillor Gita Solanki, four were under the letterhead of Corporator Shehzad Khan Pathan and two were signed by former councillor Kamruddin Pathan. Speaking on the modus operandi, an ATS officer said, 'They used to produce certificates signed by local municipal councillors. They would then use a whitener to hide the name of the person to whom it was actually issued, and then get multiple colour print outs of the same.' The officer added, 'Then, they would put the names of illegal immigrants from Bangladesh on these certificates, put their photos, and use it to make IDs for them. Then, on the basis of these documents, they would apply for passports.' On Wednesday, the ATS said it had found proof that a forgery business was being run in Ahmedabad's Narol area. A statement from the ATS said, 'Police Inspector V N Vaghela received information that an illegal immigrant from Bangladesh, named Rana Sarkar alias Mohammad Didaarul Alam, currently residing in Narol, was running a shop called 'VIP Mobile and Money Transfer'.' The ATS alleged that Sarkar had also obtained an Indian passport for himself by producing forged documents. The ATS team on Monday searched the premises of Sarkar's shop and seized several Aadhaar cards, PAN cards and voter IDs. They also seized Sarkar's National ID card issued by the People's Republic of Bangladesh. It was further alleged that Islam had brought 13-14 illegal Bangladeshi immigrants and Qureshi had forged documents for their IDs. Sarkar then used those to apply for their passports. At Qureshi's 'Al Qureshi Enterprise', the ATS found 22 copies of fake certificates, and 300 copies of these certificates on his computer. They also found that the three accused had already obtained passports for 17 illegal immigrants while applications for 9 others were under process. Sarkar is originally a resident of Kishoreganj in Dhaka, who illegally crossed the border and came to India in 2012. He lived in Siliguri and Howrah in West Bengal, in parts of Tamil Nadu, Bengaluru in Karnataka, before reaching Ahmedabad in Gujarat. He got his own Indian passport in 2017 and started his business in 2018. Qureshi, an Indian national, is a resident of Navalgadh in Rajasthan and he started his business in 2015. The ATS is trying to ascertain the nationality of Islam, who is currently in South Korea. The ATS said that the accused might also have used forged documents for more nefarious purposes such as terrorism, espionage and tax evasion which have a direct impact on the national security. Ever since the Gujarat Police's crackdown on illegal immigrants from Bangladesh beginning at 3 am on April 26, resulting in detention of a total of 6,500 suspects across the state, including hundreds of Indians who were later allowed to return home, the police have been investigating how many had in their possession original Indian IDs. Wednesday's arrests come two-and-a-half weeks later. DCP (Crime) Ajit Rajian had earlier told The Indian Express that Indian documents had been found and seized from several people, confirmed as illegal immigrants, and that the documentation of all continued to remain under scrutiny, with police personnel conducting site visits to various states and coordinating with central agencies to sort through documentation that had been generated based on forged proofs. When contacted, Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) spokesperson Manish Doshi told this paper, 'ATS has named two of the Congress councillors Gita Solanki and Shehzad Khan Pathan along with former councillor Kamruddin Pathan. Instead of blaming others, the government should take responsibility.'
Time of India
28-04-2025
- Time of India
13 more suspected illegal Bangladeshis detained
Vadodara: Police on Monday detained 13 more persons during the drive to identify Bangladeshis staying illegally in the city. Police said they will now verify their credentials and identity. "We have identified a total of 14 Bangladeshis who were staying illegally in different areas of the city. All of them were detained under The Foreigners Act, 1946," said police commissioner Narasimha Komar. Police said that illegal migrants usually mix among the residents in crowded localities, making it difficult to identify them. Many of the Bangladeshis staying illegally in the city did various jobs such as electricians. The rural police also identified and detained two Bangladeshis from Bharuch. |
