Gang held for helping illegal migrants get Aadhaar

NT Correspondent
Bengaluru

A nine-member gang, who was allegedly involved in helping illegal migrants obtain Aadhaar cards and other citizenship- related documents in the city, has been arrested, Bengaluru Rural Police said on Saturday. Sources said that the arrested accused include a software engineer and a pharmacist.

According to the police, the gang had converted Rs 4 crore into Bangladeshi currency and transferred it to the neighbouring country in the recent year. The police claim that on April 15 this year, Rs 18 lakh was robbed from an ATM in Chikkagolarahatti village under Madanayakanahalli police station area. In this connection, the police initially arrested Sheikh Ismail Kitab Ali, who was found to be a Bangladeshi national.

During interrogation Kitab Ali said about Syed Akoon who had come to India illegally from Tripura border and started a scrap and plastic waste segregation unit in the city. “Akoon used to convert Indian Rupee into Bangladeshi currency from his account through agents and transfer the money to his country of origin.Based on his inputs, the police arrested his son Suman Islam from Hotappanapalya under Madanayakanahalli police station area.

On enquiry, they disclosed that they used to obtain the Aadhaar card using BBMP’s letterhead, seal and signature of BBMP health officials,” police said. It was found that the accused used to submit documents and get Aadhaar card at a Bengaluru One Centre.

Further interrogation led to the arrest of Mohammad Abdul Aleem, a resident of Kulla, in Bangladesh’s capital Dhaka. Police said that he allegedly used to help illegal migrants get Aadhaar cards using BBMP letterheads and seals. “He used to charge between Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 for this service. Following their input, the police arrested Suhail Ahmed, Mohd Hidayat, Ayesha, Mohd Amin Sait, Rakesh, Syed Mansoor and Ishtiaq Pasha, who were found to be the residents of Deora Jeevahalli police station area,” Police further said. “Rakesh was a software engineer who became unemployed after the pandemic,” police added.

It was alleged that he used to make fake letters of gazetted rank officers to earn a living. Ishtiaq was working as a temporary worker at a BBMP hospital, police said, adding that he had tried to create several fake negative Covid reports, fake vaccination reports and fake seals of gazetted rank officers to obtain Aadhaar cards. Police claimed they have collected five seals of health officials in five BBMP hospitals, 26 forged letterheads, 16 mobile phones, three CPUs, two laptops, two printers, 31 Aadhaar cards, 13 PAN cards, 28 voter IDs for making fake seals. Four e-Shram cards, five driving licences, three Ayushman Bharat health cards, two ATM cards, three application for Voter ID cards (Form-6), 92 Certificates for Aadhaar enrollment/ update form with the seal of BBMP medical officers have also been seized from the accused. Police said that the search is on for the absconding people. Police explained that the kingpin has three bank accounts. From these accounts, money was transferred to various other accounts in Kolkata, Chennai and Punjab. In addition, Indian currency was converted into Bangladeshi currency and then sent to Bangladesh with the help of those doing business across the Indo- Bangladesh border.

“It is learned that in one year he converted Rs 4 crore into Bangladeshi currency and transferred it to his native country. There is a need to freeze and check at least 13 bank accounts across India,” the police said in a statement. Karnataka Home Minister Araga Gyanendra lauded the Bengaluru Rural Police for busting the network.