7 held in Belagavi for helping illegal migrants

Belagavi: Just a week after the Belagavi police arrested 12 illegal migrants for Bangladesh, the police on Thursday took seven people in custody on charges of assisting several illegal immigrants in procuring government documents like Aadhaar Card, passport, ration card, and PAN card.

Five of the arrested had given jobs to illegal settlers in slaughter houses, while two assisted them in getting government identity cards. Two of the arrested, Riyana Kattimani and Mahboob Shaikh, had helped the immigrants get fake documents to get all government facilities, while five others Javed Inamdar, Mohammad Hussain Barfwala, Imran Khan Pathan, Nawaz Khan Pathan and Mubin Bepari had given jobs to the arrested illegal migrants at various slaughter houses in Belagavi city.

The Malamaruti police station officials produced the arrested before a local court, which later remanded them to a day’s judicial custody.

The arrest of illegal immigrants has also put many government officials and private agencies in the city in trouble as both police department and district administration are expected to crack down on them for creating fake documents. During the preliminary investigations, the police officials have found a nexus between agencies, government officials and illegal settlers. Many officials from government departments such as Department of Food and civil supplies, Revenue, City Corporation and Police are also under the scanner for being hand-in-glove with the agencies.

The illegal migrants were able to get all facilities without any hassles with the help of documents which they possessed through illegal means, sources said adding that the police officials were shocked to find many Bangladeshi as beneficiaries under housing schemes as well.

Of the 12 arrested last week three had passports and they informed the police that obtained passports using fake documents and during the process they were also helped by some police officials, sources said. Sources in the police department also revealed that the department is under pressure from VIPs , politicians to go soft on illegal migrants.