Mumbai, July 27 (IANS) Mumbai Police arrested a 36-year-old Bangladeshi national at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport for allegedly travelling on a fraudulently obtained Indian passport.
The accused has been identified as Babu Biswas, alias Tapas Biswas. Immigration officials grew suspicious of his Indian passport after noticing that his accent closely resembled the dialect commonly spoken in Bangladesh.
According to the police, Biswas had illegally entered India through the West Bengal border along with his wife and family in 2016. He lived in the Nadia district of West Bengal and worked as a daily-wage labourer in Kolkata for nearly seven years.
Police said that after settling in India, the accused managed to obtain Indian identity documents, including an Aadhaar card and a PAN card. Using these documents, he allegedly secured an Indian passport from the Kolkata Passport Office in 2019. Investigators said he later used the passport to travel abroad, visiting the Maldives twice in 2023 and Colombo at least once without raising suspicion.
A police officer said the investigation is now focussed on identifying the agents who allegedly helped him procure forged Indian identity documents and the passport.
The accused was intercepted after arriving at Mumbai airport from Colombo. He approached the immigration counter to complete the mandatory immigration formalities and presented his Indian passport along with his boarding pass.
An Assistant Immigration Officer, who was on duty at Counter No. 23, said the passenger arrived in Mumbai on Sri Lankan Airlines flight UL141 at around 3.30 a.m.
“While examining the Indian passport, I suspected that the passenger was from Bangladesh. I asked him a few questions, but he failed to provide satisfactory answers,” the officer said.
Following the initial interrogation, the passenger was produced before the officer incharge of the Immigration Wing and other duty officers for detailed questioning. During the enquiry, officials reportedly established that he hailed from Faridpur in Bangladesh.
Police said the suspicion was confirmed after Biswas contacted his wife in Bangladesh through WhatsApp and asked her to send documents establishing his identity. She subsequently sent photocopies of land ownership documents registered in Bangladesh in the name of Biswas’ father, confirming his Bangladeshi origin.
An official from Sahar Police Station said the accused admitted during questioning that he had entered India illegally with his family in 2016. He further confessed that while living in West Bengal, he had obtained an Aadhaar card and a PAN card with the help of a local resident before securing an Indian passport using those documents.
Police are now investigating the network that allegedly facilitated the preparation of forged identity documents and enabled his illegal stay and international travel.
Meanwhile, the Mumbai Crime Branch recently announced that it has initiated the process of deporting 53 illegal Bangladeshi nationals who were apprehended during separate operations across the city. Further investigation into the case is underway.
–IANS
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