Around 116 Bangladeshis including Hassan Shaikh and his three Thane born kids, deported by Navi Mumbai police reached Bangladesh, said the wife of Shaikh, Shahnaz who had been running pillar to post to convince the authorities that he husband was not a Bangladeshi. The drive that concluded in around six days to nabbing Bangladeshis and deporting them, was as a result of orders by Central Government. “There was no GR, the directions were given to us orally and the drive has been happening across the country in every state. These drives have been asked to be conducted in low profile way and hence we cannot divulge much details,” a senior officer from Navi Mumbai police said.
All the alleged Bangladeshis were detained on July 7 and July 8 and were deported by July 12 without following the due procedure of arrest, filing of a FIR or even presenting before the court, as directed by the Central Government, the police said. “The idea was to get rid of illegal migrants immediately without wasting time in the procedures. We have also recorded the biometrics of those deported so that they cannot come back to the country,” the officer added.
Shahnaz claims that her husband was found by Mukhtar Shaikh from Mamnoli village in Murbad in the year 1999 while was five years old and was raised them. On the day of the Eid, Shaikh, his wife and three kids - eight year old Humaira, six year old Ali and two year old Zeenath- had gone to visit his friend in Panvel Hussain Mulla who was a Bangladeshi and when the police raided, Mulla’s father, Inamul, who was drunk, claimed Hassan also to be his son due to which the police nabbed the whole Shaikh family as well and deported Hassan and kids alone while Shahnaz was left behind, being an Indian.
“After reaching Bangladesh, Hassan made a video call with the help of someone to his wife and told that after they were handed over to BSF, they were left in some jungle area at the border and with lot of difficulty, they found their way out. He does not know Benagli nor does he know anyone there. We don’t know how he will survive there. The youngest child was a nursing toddler, Shehnaz is heartbroken to be away from her family. The police did not even care to do a DNA test to verify the claims of Mulla,” a relative of Shehnaz said.
