9 Bengali-speaking migrant workers detained by Odisha police ‘to check Bangladeshi links’

“We brought them for verification on Wednesday evening. They are in a proper shelter with all basic facilities and not in a police station. Though the workers have voter identity cards and Aadhaar cards with Murshidabad addresses, we have sought their call detail records to ascertain whether they are in touch with people from Bangladesh. The process generally takes two to three days,” Bhadrak Superintendent of Police Manoj Kumar Rout told The Indian Express.

According to officials, the verification is a regular exercise as directed by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs. The BJP government in Odisha has directed police to take strict action against alleged illegal immigrants staying in various districts.

Police sources said the Odisha police special task force has been asked to work with local police and other agencies to gather information on the presence of suspected Bangladeshis, especially in coastal districts such as Kendrapada, Jagatsinghpur, Bhadrak, Jajpur and Balasore. “They are being brought for verification in small groups and allowed to go if nothing suspicious is found after verification,” said a police officer.

Though Bhadrak is among other coastal districts with a sizeable Bengali-speaking population that has been here for decades, police said they are verifying the antecedents of those who have settled here more recently. Individuals with Aadhaar details from districts such as Murshidabad and Malda, which share borders with Bangladesh, are being closely verified, police sources said.

Last week, at least four people of an “organised racket” were arrested by police in Jagatsinghpur district on charges of harbouring illegal immigrants from Bangladesh. The administration also demolished structures owned by the accused, stating that they were illegally built on government land.

According to a reply to a question in the Assembly in March this year, Odisha has 3,740 undocumented migrants from Bangladesh. Officials, however, estimate that the actual figure is higher.

The detentions have been a political flashpoint in the past, with West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee’s TMC objecting to the “harassment” of Bengali-speaking migrants.