RAIPUR: The arrest of 42-year-old Atiq Hussain from Chhattisgarh’s Bilaspur has shifted attention from a routine immigration crackdown to an industrial and infrastructure vulnerability: how a foreign national managed to work undetected inside an installation run by NTPC Limited, India’s largest integrated power utility and a Maharatna Central Public Sector Undertaking (PSU), for nearly two decades.
The Special Task Force (STF), alongside the District Special Branch of Bilaspur Police, apprehended the Bangladeshi national illegally residing in India using forged documents.
NTPC Sipat (the Sipat Super Thermal Power Station in Bilaspur district) is a vital energy asset powering multiple states.
"Hussain, who crossed into India from Narayanganj, Bangladesh, in 2005, arrived in Bilaspur during 2007 after a brief stint in Tamil Nadu. He secured employment as an elevator maintenance technician through a private third-party agency, BECO Lifts Private Limited, contracted at the Sipat power plant", Rajnesh Singh, Bilaspur Senior Superintendent of Police, told TNIE.
"As his role involved elevator installation and maintenance across administrative and operational facilities, it afforded him long-term, unhindered physical access to the sensitive industrial premises," the SSP added.
Central PSUs and critical infrastructure complexes operate under strict access control protocols managed by specialised industrial security forces, requiring plant-entry gate passes vetted by contractor credentials and government IDs.
During police searches at his rented accommodation, investigators seized a complete suite of forged credentials: Indian Passport, Identification cards (Aadhaar card, PAN card, Voter ID), State & Civic records (Driving License, Domicile Certificate, Caste Certificate) and educational certification (Class 9 mark sheet).
By stacking secondary local records alongside primary identity cards, Hussain created an identity paper trail sufficient to pass routine third-party contractor onboarding, human resource audits, and security verifications.
The case apparently exposes the operational vulnerability inherent in vendor sub-contracting at vital state assets.
Hussain is currently held at a Raipur holding centre awaiting formal deportation, while formal notifications are being dispatched to the Bangladesh High Commission and consular offices in New Delhi and Kolkata, Bilaspur police said in a press release.
