KOLKATA: An Army jawan and two Bangladeshi nationals were arrested in connection with illegal infiltration along the India-Bangladesh border at Daharkand in the Bithari-Hakimpur gram panchayat area in Swarupnagar, North 24 Parganas district in West Bengal.
The Army jawan, posted in Jodhpur, Rajasthan, was arrested after interrogating the two Bangladeshis, Joy Barui and Baisakhi Barui, who are residents of Gopalganj district in Bangladesh. According to a preliminary investigation conducted by police, the jawan, a resident of Mogra in Hooghly district in West Bengal, might have helped the two Bangladeshi nationals cross the border at Bithari-Hakimpur.
The three accused were produced before the court in Basirhat in North 24 Parganas today.
According to police sources, Joy and Baisakhi were trying to enter India by crossing the barbed-wire fence along the border at Daharkand on Tuesday night. The on-duty BSF personnel spotted and detained them. The BSF personnel handed them over to Swarupnagar police station, sources said.
During interrogation, police came to know about the alleged involvement of the jawan from the two Bangladeshi infiltrators.
Cases have also been registered against the three under different sections of the BNS. Police are also exploring whether any other rackets are involved behind the incident.
The West Bengal BJP government, headed by Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari, has adopted the ‘3D’ policy (Detect, Delete, and Deport) to stop illegal infiltration in Bengal. Under this initiative, individuals residing illegally are being identified and placed in detention centres. Following a period of tension between the BSF and the BGB, a three-day meeting at the Director General (DG) level was held in New Delhi.
Furthermore, the Bengal government has handed over land to the BSF for the construction of fencing and check-posts along the Bangladesh border across the state. The BSF is prioritising the installation of fencing in sensitive areas.
A significant statement has been issued by Home Minister Amit Shah just ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to West Bengal following the BJP’s electoral success there. The Home Minister asserted that the campaign against infiltrators would not cease in West Bengal or anywhere else in the country. Shah stated that the government would not allow infiltration across the Bengal border.
This statement comes at a time when action against illegal infiltrators has intensified in West Bengal following Suvendu Adhikari’s rise to prominence. So far, approximately 5,000 illegal Bangladeshi nationals have been expelled from the state.
The Union Home Minister Amit Shah has vowed that every single infiltrator would be expelled. In a recent visit to Maharashtra, Shah remarked that India is not a ‘dharamshala’; only those born here have the right to reside in the country, and all infiltrators will be deported.
Shah noted that over the past 12 years, the BJP and NDA have expanded their governance across the nation and the people of Bengal also blessed the BJP in the last election. “I assure you that not only will infiltration across Bengal’s borders be halted, but we will also identify and flush out every single infiltrator from across the country,” he said in rallies during assembly elections held in April in Bengal
