Delhi Police arrest 11 people in illegal immigration racket involving Bangladeshis

The Delhi Police on Dec 24 announced the arrest of 11 individuals, revealing the operation of a gang involved in the illegal entry of Bangladeshi nationals into India.

The group is accused of forging various official documents for individuals seeking to stay in India unlawfully.

Among those arrested, four are Bangladeshi citizens, while the rest are accused of involvement in producing forged documents, including Aadhaar cards, voter IDs, and Permanent Account Number (PAN) cards. An official from the Delhi Police confirmed these details.

The operation came to light when the police were investigating a murder case in the Sangam Vihar area. Deputy Commissioner of Police (South) Ankit Chauhan stated, “The gang was busted when our team tracked down four people linked to the murder of Sentu Seikh alias Raja on Oct 21.”

Also Read: Govt issues directive to prevent enrolment of illegal Bangladeshi migrants in Delhi schools

The investigation revealed that the Bangladeshi nationals, identified as Midul Miyan (also known as Akash Ahmed), Fardeen Ahmed (alias Abhi Ahmed), and their spouses, were among those arrested and interrogated in connection with Raja’s murder.

During their questioning, the accused revealed that Raja had been harassing them over trivial matters. Further probes indicated that the accused had illegally entered India and had been residing in Sangam Vihar for several years.

During their arrest, the authorities recovered several documents, including Bangladeshi chip-based National ID cards and birth certificates, as well as Indian documents such as 21 Aadhaar cards, four voter IDs, and eight PAN cards from the residence of the victim, Raja.

To investigate the larger issue of illegal immigration, a dedicated team was formed under Inspectors Umesh Yadav and Umesh Sharma, with the guidance of Assistant Commissioners of Police Abhinendera Jain and Niraj Tokas.

The subsequent questioning led to the arrest of 26-year-old Sahil Sehgal, who ran a "Poonam Online Computer Centre" in Rohini Sector 5. It was found that Sehgal's centre was involved in creating Aadhaar cards and other official documents using fake IDs. Sehgal admitted that illegal Bangladeshi immigrants had approached him through the deceased Raja.

"Sahil used the fraudulent website 'Jantaprints.site' to generate fake birth certificates and forwarded them to his associate Ranjit for processing Aadhaar cards," the police official said.

Ranjit, a resident of Sector 7 in Rohini, worked alongside Afroz, a 25-year-old Aadhaar operator at a Karnataka Bank branch in Rohini Sector 5. Afroz, using the fake birth certificates, facilitated the creation of Aadhaar cards. Both Ranjit and Afroz were arrested, and further investigations revealed that the "Jantaprints.site" was selling a range of fake documents, including birth certificates, caste certificates, matriculation certificates, income certificates, and even COVID certificates. The fake documents were sold at nominal rates starting from Rs 7.

Payments for these fraudulent documents were made via Paytm QR codes linked to a phone number registered under Mohammad Chand, 28, a resident of Uttam Nagar. Following technical surveillance, Chand was arrested from Vikas Nagar in Delhi. He confessed to receiving a 2% commission on the payments and transferring the rest of the amount to Saddam Hussain.

Saddam Hussain, 33, also from Uttam Nagar, was arrested and revealed that the "Jantaprints.site" was operated by his associate, Deepak Mishra. Saddam admitted to transferring the payments to Mishra while retaining a 2% share for himself.

Further investigation led the police to apprehend Deepak Mishra, 34, in Ambala. After sustained interrogation, Mishra disclosed that his brother-in-law, Sonu Kumar, 31, was responsible for creating the fraudulent website. Kumar, who runs a cyber café in Noida, confessed to learning how to create fake websites through YouTube tutorials. He also developed other fake document-generating sites like "Portalwale.com" and "Portalwale.online."

Sonu Kumar was arrested in Noida, and the investigation continues as authorities work to uncover more details about the network involved in the creation of fraudulent documents.

PTI