10 Bangladeshis held at railway station
Bhubaneswar: The Special Task Force (STF) of Odisha Crime Branch has apprehended 10 Bangladeshi infiltrators, including three females and a juvenile, during a raid at Bhubaneswar railway station. The STF stated that the Bangladeshi nationals have no legal documents including passport, visa, valid travel document for stay or travel in India.
A team of STF sleuths on Saturday carried out the raid at Bhubaneswar railway station after receiving information about the travel of the illegal immigrants without any valid document to Odisha. “On interrogation, they disclosed that they belong to Bangladesh and had crossed the border illegally through their agent near Dhubri border (Assam) and came to Bhubaneswar to reside here. During their personal search, seven mobile phones, some Bangladeshi currency notes and Indian currency notes were recovered and seized from their possession,” the STF said.
As Bangladeshi nationals have entered India without any passport, visa or any travel document to reside here at Bhubaneswar suppressing their real identity, they are liable under Section14 of the Foreigners Act 1946. A case under Section 14 of the Foreigners Act 1946 has been registered against them and all the accused persons were arrested and were forwarded to judicial custody, added STF sources.
Meanwhile, Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi informed the Assembly on Monday that the police have registered several criminal cases against 41 Bangladeshis in the State during the last 10 years. In a written reply to a question from BJP legislator Manas Kumar Dutta, the Chief Minister said a total of 3,738 Bangladeshi infiltrators have been identified in the State. The highest of 1,649 illegal Bangladeshi immigrants were found in Kendrapara, followed by 1,112 in Jagatsinghpur, 655 in Malkangiri, 199 in Bhadrak, 106 in Nabarangpur and 17 in Bhubaneswar, he said.
The State government has asked all collectors and superintendents of police to form teams of officials of tehsil, block and police to identify Bangladeshi infiltrators in various parts of the State and send them back to their own country, Majhi said. He also informed the Assembly that no illegal Bangladeshi immigrant has been identified in Balasore district so far. However, several criminal cases have been filed against five Bangladeshi nationals in the district and the cases are sub judice, the Chief Minister stated.