Belagavi: Seven illegal immigrants from Bangladesh, who had got their Aadhaar and ration cards done in Belagavi to legalise their stay, have been arrested. Anwar Sadar, Ajubeg, Shoufi Bepari, Hafiz Islam, Hakeeb and Abdul Gali were arrested in a joint operation by Pune and Belagavi police, while another illegal immigrant, Mohammad Bepari, also shown to be a Belagavi resident, was caught in Pune.
Six of the arrested were remanded to judicial custody, while one to police custody by Belagavi 2nd JMFC on Saturday. Pune and Belagavi police officers carried out the joint operation to catch all the seven illegal immigrants, sources said.
The Malamaruti police have registered cases under the Foreigners Act of 1946 against the accused.
Mohammad Bepari was on his way to catch a flight to Dubai from the Pune airport when the Pune police got a tipoff on his whereabouts and arrested him. During the interrogation, Bepari spilled the beans on the locations of his associates in Belagavi.
All the arrested were working in mutton shops at various locations in Belagavi city for the past sometime. A resident of Gandhi Nagar, Riyana Kattimani, has allegedly got 20 Aadhaar cards done for Bangladesh residents staying in Belagavi. The police have continued their investigations to get more details about all illegal Bangladeshis in Belagavi city.
At a meeting in Belagavi recently, MPs Ananth Kumar Hegde and Suresh Angadi had raised the issue of illegal Bangladeshi immigrants staying in various parts of Belagavi and alleged that many had already got Aadhaar and ration cards and passports done through agents. The MPs had questioned the local authorities as to why a survey was not done to arrest them.
