In 2018, Hossain married an Indian woman under false pretenses and smuggled Bangladeshi workers into Delhi.
NEW DELHI: The Delhi Police have recently dismantled a syndicate involved in the illegal entry and settlement of Bangladeshi immigrants in India through the Bangladesh-Assam-Delhi route. Earlier this week, the Crime Branch (Southern Range) arrested three Bangladeshi nationals along with their Indian accomplice, who facilitated their acquisition of Indian identity documents.
According to the Delhi Crime Branch, these immigrants entered India via the Assam border before traveling to Delhi by train. Many of them settled in the South and South-East districts of the city, particularly in areas with a high Bengali-speaking population, allowing them to blend in more easily.
Additionally, the Delhi Police have apprehended the mastermind behind this network. They said, to conceal his true identity, he married an Indian woman without disclosing his nationality and fathered two children. The Crime Branch uncovered that the syndicate had an extensive operation spanning Assam and Delhi/NCR, where they illegally transported Bangladeshi nationals into India and provided them with forged identity documents, ensuring their long-term stay. Based on anonymous tips, a special team from the Crime Branch deployed undercover officers in weekly markets located in South and Southeast Delhi, where many suspected illegal Bangladeshi immigrants were engaged in the garment trade. Officers posed as garment vendors to gather vital information, which ultimately led to the identification of the mastermind of the operation, Mohd Iqbal Hossain’s operations. Through detailed surveillance, the police conducted multiple raids, leading to the arrest of several suspects and the confiscation of fraudulent identity documents such as Indian passports, Aadhaar cards, voter ID cards, and mobile phones containing crucial evidence. Among those arrested were two Bangladeshi nationals, Razeeb Miyan (alias Rahul Biswas/Amit Yadav) and Md. Momin Badsha (alias Mohammad Momin Hussain/Jitender Yadav), who were apprehended at the Badarpur Border. They were in possession of Aadhaar, PAN, and voter ID cards registered under fake Indian identities.
The syndicate also received assistance from Agrasen Kumar, an Indian national residing in Okhla. Kumar, who was authorized to issue Aadhaar cards through a bank, misused his position to generate Aadhaar cards for illegal Bangladeshi immigrants using fraudulent details, thereby legitimizing their presence in India.
A case has been registered under the Foreigners Act and the Aadhaar Act, and investigations are currently underway to identify and apprehend other members of the network. Hossain, who was also known by his Indian alias Farhan Khan, was arrested in Nehru Place. Hossain, originally from Sunamganj in Bangladesh, was found carrying both Bangladeshi and Indian passports, along with multiple forged Indian identity documents. Despite being married in Bangladesh, he fraudulently entered into another marriage in India through a matrimonial website, hiding his real identity.
According to police reports, Iqbal Hossain’s illegal journey to India was well-planned. After dropping out of school in 1995, he initially worked in rice trading and later spent time in England between 2004 and 2009. Upon his return to Bangladesh, he managed a grocery store before illegally crossing into India in 2017 via Assam. Once in India, he settled in Delhi’s Jamia Nagar, where he started a garment business while simultaneously expanding his network of illegal immigrants. In 2018, he married an Indian woman from Madhya Pradesh under false pretenses and had two children with her. To sustain his business operations, he smuggled Bangladeshi workers into Delhi via Assam with the assistance of human traffickers. Despite being arrested in 2020 for selling illegal SIM cards, Hossain continued his illicit activities, even managing to travel to Bangladesh twice using an illegally obtained Indian passport.
Significantly, the Delhi Police have alerted the concerned authorities regarding this case and are conducting further raids across Delhi/NCR to apprehend other individuals associated with the syndicate.