BELAGAVI: The thickly populated New Gandhinagar locality in Belagavi woke up to police raids on Saturday as Malmaruti police picked up seven Bangladeshi nationals, including a woman for staying here illegally. They are being interrogated by police.
The police said that the arrests were conducted based on the information of one Mohammadali Shaouddin Bepari, who was arrested in Pune. Police said the others were planning to reach Dubai from Pune and were in touch with Bepari for duplicate passports.
The police picked up Azam Baig, Hafisulha Islam, Haqib, Abdulniharali Gaji, Anvar Sadar, Rohan and Anjumulla Baig, who are said to have lived in rented houses in New Gandhinagar for the last four years.
The police are now looking for Abdul Sheik who created the duplicate passports for the illegal immigrants.
Several members of BJP had earlier requested the police to search and round up illegal Bangladeshi immigrants residing in Belagavi and surrounding areas.
“There have been several instances where duplicate ration cards were found. Some of the arrested had confessed about increased numbers of Bangladeshis residing in Indian cities in large numbers, but such suggestions were ignored. The local politicians who help such illegal act must be punished too,” said a member from the city BJP unit in Belagavi.