Click here to join Express Pune WhatsApp channel and get a curated list of our stories
© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd
Tags:
Journalism of Courage
The Pune city police are investigating how Kamrul Roshan Mandal (28), an alleged illegal migrant accused in a bomb blast case in Bangladeshi, procured a “school leaving certificate of Chandipur high school in West Bengal”. Kamrul is also alleged to have got an Indian passport.
The police told a court on Monday that Kamrul’s three brothers and a sister-in-law, all from Bangladesh, were residing with him in Pune and had also procured Indian passports and other documents. The police, who have communicated with the regional passport office, are also trying to find out how his family members got Indian passports.
According to the police, Kamrul is a native of Kagoj Pukur village in Benapole in Bangladesh’s Jessore district. They said he was arrested (in Bangladesh) for allegedly hurling a bomb on a street in Benapole with his aide Tarikul Islam. After being released on bail, he allegedly came to India illegally in 2019. He had also allegedly been to India a few times before 2019.
Sources said the police were trying to procure documents related to the case against Kamrul in Bangladesh. The police claimed to have found an image of his Bangladesh passport on his mobile phone.
Based on inputs received from the Army’s Military Intelligence unit, the police arrested Kamrul along with Nijam Rahimali Shaikh (35), Babu Mohsin Mandal (37) and Sagar Alam Shaikh (23), all alleged to be illegal migrants from Bangladesh, on October 14.
The police seized mobile phones, several Indian documents like Aadhaar cards, PAN cards, voter ID cards, ration cards from the suspects. An FIR was registered against them at the Hadapsar station under sections 420, 465, 468, 467 and 470 of the Indian Penal Code and sections of the Indian Passport Act and the Foreigners Act.
All four were found residing with their families at Adarsh Nagar in Devachi Uruli near Hadapsar. The police said the accused had entered India illegally by crossing the international border in West Bengal. Then with the help of local “agents”, they allegedly procured the Indian ID proofs by submitting forged documents and impersonating Indian citizens at government offices like the UIDAI.
The police arrested an “agent” identified as Shankar alias Sangram Nekramsingh Pawar (53), a native of Uttar Pradesh, from Mohammadwadi in Pune. He allegedly helped the illegal Bangladeshi migrants get Indian ID proofs. Bangladeshi passports and other incriminating materials were seized from Pawar, according to the police.
Inspector Sandip Shivale of the Hadapsar police station produced Pawar and the four alleged illegal Bangladeshi migrants before the Cantonment court on Monday.
Judicial Magistrate (first class) D J Patil extended the custody of the five accused by two days after Assistant Public Prosecutor Anjala Navgire and J S Waghmare sought custody extension saying the scope of the investigation was wide.
The police also submitted that more illegal Bangladeshi migrants, including the family members of four of the accused, were residing in India and that their whereabouts were being investigated.
The police further submitted to the court that during searches at Kamrul’s residence in Pune, they had recovered a “school leaving certificate” of “Chandipur high school in West Bengal”. They are investigating how he got it.
The police are also investigating the money allegedly transferred by accused Nijam and Babu Mandal to the bank account of Pushpanjali Studio in West Bengal. They suspect the money was further transferred to Bangladesh.
The police said Nijam did not have a passport but had entered India illegally and even went back to his native place in Bangladesh twice in the past through an agent, identified as “Intajul”, operating at the international border. They claimed to have recovered Nijam’s “national ID card” of Bangladesh during the investigation.
