Palash Adhikari (34) and his wife Sukla Adhikari (23) of Tele Jaugram village in Purba Bardhaman district’s Jamalpur area are languishing in a Bengaluru jail for nearly three-and-a-half months along with their two-year-old son after they were arrested on the suspicion of being Bangladeshi infiltrators.
The family has now requested the West Bengal government to intervene in the matter and ensure their release at the earliest.
The couple was booked by the Bengaluru police under the Foreigners Act, it is learnt. Though Palash’s parents were also detained by police at the time, they were released later, it is claimed.
A Bengaluru police team recently visited Tele Jaugram and met local residents and officials of the local administration to verify the couple’s citizenship.
The Adhikaris’ relatives said that Palash lived in a dilapidated tin shed at Tele Jaugram before he left for Bengaluru with his family in June this year in the hope of better earning.
The family was employed at a waste segregation unit in Bengaluru’s Marathahalli suburb.
Palash’s sister Shampa Halder said, “They were staying at the house of one Kayen Khan at Sulibele village in Marathahalli sub-division. Our father (Pankaj Adhikari) and mother (Sabita Adhikari) had also gone with them.”
“They used to collect waste material from hotels and restaurants. On July 27, police raided Kayen’s house and arrested them,” said Palash’s cousin Pintu Haldar.
Jamalpur Block Development Officer (BDO) Shubhankar Majumder said three Bengaluru police officers visited the area last week and collected documents to verify that the detainees were Indian citizens.
“They asked for the couple’s residential proof and information about their marital status etc. They were provided voter identity cards, ration card and PAN card. These documents are enough to prove that they are Indian Citizens. The Bengaluru police claimed that at the time of arrest they failed to produce these documents,” BDO Majumadar said.
Palash’s brother-in-law Sujan Haldar said, “We managed to speak to him a few days back. The Bengaluru police haven’t found anything against them. The family has been staying in Bardhaman for nearly 40 years. It is shocking that police have arrested them. It is our appeal to the Bengal government to look into the matter so that they are released soon,” said Haldar.
Local TMC MLA Alok Majhi said that the couple are registered as voters in the constituency. “I don’t know as why they have been arrested. But they are voters of Jamalpur. We have done whatever we could. All the documents have been provided to police. Let the court decide,” the MLA said.
The Bengaluru police said the couple’s bail plea was rejected by the district and sessions court on November 5, adding that they have filed a chargesheet in the case, claiming that the two did not produce any documents to prove their Indian citizenship. The two are among seven people arrested by the Varthur police on the basis of intelligence inputs about the presence of illegal immigrants from Bangladesh living at a house, officials said. Police alleged that their illegal entry into India was facilitated by one Mohammad Jalal Khalifa.