Imphal: A Bangladeshi man who had been allegedly living illegally in Manipur since 1990 has been remanded for judicial custody for 15 days.
According to sources, an illegal immigrant from Bangladesh identified as Md Anwar Hussain, 54, was arrested by a team from Lamlai police station from Khabesoi following a routing spot verification on October 7.
During the spot investigation, Anwar Hussain revealed that he is from Chaudala village in Bangladesh and he entered India at the age of 17 through the Malda district of West Bengal in 1990 without any valid documents. The same year, he came to Manipur as a truck handyman and since then, he has been living in the state illegally.
The police also found that he was allegedly impersonating a local and obtained his driving license and Aadhar card from the state.
He was produced before the Chief Judicial Magistrate of Imphal East and remanded to judicial custody till October 31.
According to chief minister N Biren Singh, all the said documents from him have been seized and a case has been lodged.
Due to certain doubts, and dishonesty amongst ourselves, we are facing various hindrances in identifying these illegal foreigners, said CM Biren Singh to media persons on Sunday.
The chief minister also said that the main concern is how many illegal foreigners must have already infiltrated our communities, he said, adding that the man who entered the state in 1990 was arrested only in 2022.
CM Biren Singh informed about the setting up of the Population Commission in the state at the earliest. A house-to-house survey will be conducted soon and Singh appealed to all against renting out rooms or selling land to illegal foreigners and immigrants.
The chief minister said legal action could be taken against any house owner found renting out or housing illegal foreigners.
So far, in the operation against Inner Line Permit (ILP) defaulters, the government has identified and arrested around 613 illegal violators and they have been booked accordingly, of which some have been deported, Singh informed.
The main worry is that most of these violators are from Bangladesh, with some from Myanmar, the chief minister added.
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