KOLKATA: A Bangladeshi model-actress, Shanta Pal, was arrested in Kolkata after Indian voter ID, PAN card, and Aadhaar card were recovered from her rented flat in Bikramgarh. Following a written complaint filed in the Park Street police station, sleuths searched the flat and recovered the documents.
This arrest assumes significance, especially when various states have launched a drive to identify and detain the Bangladeshi people, who have been living in India illegally. Following detention, many of them have also been pushed back to Bangladesh by the BSF.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, however, blamed the Centre for their illegal entry into India and alleged that Bengali migrant workers have been ‘harassed and tortured’ in various BJP-ruled states for speaking in Bengali.
According to Kolkata Police officials, an Aadhaar card was issued in Shanta Pal’s name in 2020 using an address in Burdwan. During the search, police also recovered a Bangladeshi passport, a Bangladesh Airways employee ID card and an admit card for Bangladesh’s secondary school examination.
“She is being interrogated to find out how, being a Bangladeshi citizen she managed to get Aadhaar, PAN and voter cards and from where. Who helped her to get all these documents. Her various social media posts are also being investigated,” a police official said on Thursday.
She won the ‘Miss Asia Global Bangladesh’ beauty pageant title, organised by an organisation in Bangladesh. A few days ago, the model-actress also filed a complaint of fraud at the Thakurpukur police station.
It is learnt that Shanta was born in 1998. Her parents lived with her in the Bikramgarh flat. They are also being investigated by the police.
Shanta’s husband is a resident of Andhra Pradesh. The investigators have been trying to ascertain how Shanta came in contact with him before marriage.