Thaindian News

New Delhi, May 26 (IANS) “I was born and brought up in Midnapore in West Bengal. I have come here to earn a living. I am not a Bangladeshi,” pleaded 30-year-old Zakir. However, the identity documents he produced were found to be fake by Delhi Police which wasted no time in deporting him.

Zakir is one of the 140 illegal Bangladeshi immigrants who have been deported from the capital, particularly northeast Delhi, in the past five months following a special drive by police.

The drive was launched after a spate of robberies and other crimes showed the involvement of illegal Bangladeshi immigrants, police say.

Not only that, police found out that some travel agents were bringing them here and helping them get Indian identity documents.

The agents also provide them a safe passage home after they commit a crime, and bring them back again after a cool-off period — of course, for a hefty sum, say police.

“A large number of Bangladeshi immigrants have illegally sneaked in and are staying in northeast Delhi. We have created special teams to identify and deport them,” Deputy Commissioner of Police Sanjay Kumar Jain told IANS.

“In the last five months, our teams have arrested around 140 illegal immigrants and handed them over to the FRRO (Foreigner Regional Registration Offices), which then deported them,” said Jain.

Police claim the drive has also led to a dip in the crime rate.

“We are now looking for the agents who bring Bangladeshi immigrants in the city,” he added.

Areas like Seelampur, New Usmanpur, Jafrabad, Khajoori Khas and Seemapuri in the city have many Bangladeshi ghettos, which provide a safe hideout to the criminal elements within the community.

During the course of investigation, police found that the immigrants enter India illegally by crossing the border near Rajshahi, a Bangladesh border town, and Boghkalam in West Bengal’s Murshidabad district.

Jain said some of the immigrants even obtain ration cards, voter identity cards and Permanent Account Number (PAN) cards.

“They get all these documents by furnishing false documents. They also open accounts in various banks by furnishing these documents,” he added.

“Some of them have been staying in Delhi for several years. They have a wide network across the city. They work as non-skilled workers in small units and many are labourers and domestic helps,” said Jain.

He said the illegal immigrants frequently change their residence and move to different slum areas to avoid detection.

“Whenever the beat constables get suspicious, they change their houses,” said Jain.

As the immigrants speak Bengali fluently, police find it hard to distinguish them from people in West Bengal.

“An immigrant once convinced us that he is from West Bengal and had all the necessary documents to prove that,” said Jain.

When this IANS correspondent spoke to Zakir, he said he had all the documents to prove he was an Indian. But not only were his papers fake, he was also found to be involved in a fraud case, police said.

Police also detained some illegal immigrants during a servant verification process.

“We are keeping an eye on them on a regular basis and have also intensified house-to-house verification as a preventive measure,” added Jain.

(Sumit Kumar Singh can be contacted at sumit.s@ians.in)