In Pahalgam aftermath, Gujarat Police detains over a thousand ‘illegal Bangladeshis’; 890 of them paraded through Ahmedabad roads

Gujarat Minister of State (MoS) for Home Harsh Sanghavi called the midnight action “a historic victory” for the Gujarat Police and said the force had shown “red eye” to those staying illegally in the state.

Drawing a comparison between the decision taken by the Centre on sending back Pakistan nationals in the backdrop of Pahalgam terror attack and Gujarat’s action against Bangladesh nationals, Sanghavi said, “On the lines of the decision of PM Narendra Modi that were taken on the cabinet committee on security, Gujarat Police have clear instructions to Pakistan nationals to leave India. Before tonight, all Pakistanis will be sent back. In the same way, it is the responsibility of the state government that illegal immigrants of any country should not remain in the state and in Gujarat, the police are doing so on the instructions of CM Bhupendra Patel.”

He further said, “I congratulate the Ahmedabad and Surat police for the way they have conducted this operation on a single night by apprehending all the ‘ghuspatiye’ (infiltrators).”

A senior officer in Ahmedabad said early on Saturday morning, “Today morning, starting from 3 am, the Ahmedabad Crime Branch, along with teams from the SOG, EOW, Zone 6, and Headquarters, organised a combing operation to apprehend foreign immigrants residing illegally in Ahmedabad city. During this operation, more than 400 suspicious immigrants have been detained.” The number rose to 890 by noon. Most of the people were picked up from Chandola lake area of Ahmedabad City.

Later in the day, a statewide police meeting was conducted via video conference with Gujarat Director General of Police (DGP) Vikas Sahay joining in from Ahmedabad, while MoS Sanghavi attended from Surat.

Speaking to the press after the meeting, Minister Sanghavi said, “This is the biggest operation of the Gujarat Police to date, in which illegally residing citizens have been shown ‘red eye’ by the police. These Bangladeshis come through (West) Bengal illegally by making fake documents and reach Gujarat and other states of India. Many of them are those who are involved in drug cartels, human trafficking, and as we have seen earlier, how two Bangladeshis were caught while working as sleeper cells for Al Qaeda.”

By Saturday evening, about 100 of the 890 people detained in Ahmedabad had been confirmed as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh, said DCP Crime Ajit Rajian. The sheer number of people detained in a single operation has required a large investigation team as well with cases being distributed across the Crime Branch, SOG, Economic Offences Wing (EOW), Cybercrime and local police of Zone-6, all having to chip in to verify the documents of the detained persons.

The detainees were first held at Kankaria Football Ground in Maninagar and then paraded to the Gaikwad Haveli HQ of the Crime Branch which is around four kms away. From there, the detainees were distributed across several premises of the Ahmedabad City Police while those confirmed as illegal immigrants were moved to the Joint Interrogation Centre (JIC) in Ahmedabad.

Sanghavi warned all other illegal immigrants to surrender themselves to local police stations.

He said, “The investigation of the background and activities of all these Bangladeshis is underway and I want to give them a clear message. Either go to the police station yourself and surrender as an illegal Bangladeshi within two days, otherwise the Gujarat Police will take ‘na bhuto na bhavishya’ (that has neither happened in the past nor will happen in the future) type of strong action. The same instructions have been passed on in all corners of Gujarat.”

In Ahmedabad, DGP Sahay reiterated that central agencies had been asked for cooperation in investigating the legal status of the Bangladesh nationals detained on Saturday.

In a warning to those allegedly offering help to the Bangladeshi nationals in their illegal stay, Sanghavi said, “Anyone offering shelter to even a single infiltrator will pay for their actions. All types of legal steps will be taken against those sheltering them.”

He said the police would investigate those making fake documents for illegal Bangladeshi immigrants.

On the orders to send back Pakistani citizens to their homeland, Sanghavi said, “It is the responsibility of the state, in the national interest, to implement it. As part of this responsibility, the Gujarat government will finish the work in the timeline given by the Government of India.”

Crackdown in Vadodara

Meanwhile, in Vadodara, the City police began a search operation in areas under its jurisdiction to track down illegal Bangladeshi immigrants. Seven teams of the Vadodara city police, including the Crime Branch, fanned out in the areas where the suspected immigrants have been living and carried out physical verifications.

Vadodara city Commissioner of Police Narasimha Komar told The Indian Express that about 200 Bangladeshi immigrants have been rounded up for verification in Vadodara city. Komar said, “We have picked up and examined over 200 people. The verification of documents has been initiated and we will have a figure of those living illegally, in some time… The next step for illegal immigrants will be to confine them in a restricted area until their deportation process is completed.”

Action in Rajkot

At least 800 people suspected to be illegal immigrants from Bangladesh were under investigation in Rajkot city and by Saturday evening, ACP BB Basiya of the Crime Branch confirmed that 10 people had been confirmed as such.

“We are conducting detailed investigation into each person. Of the 10 people that we have confirmed as illegal immigrants, many already have an Aadhaar card. But through intensive questioning, we are trying to separate those who are actually citizens of India from those who are illegal immigrants,” said ACP Basiya. The investigation is likely to continue through the night.

(Inputs from Aditi Raja in Vadodara)