Bengaluru, Nov. 26: Continuing its crackdown against illegal immigrants, Bengaluru police on Friday arrested five Bangladeshi immigrants from the Kadugodi police limits, a senior police officer said here.
According to Bengaluru city Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime), Sandeep Patil, the Bangladeshi nationals have been booked under the Foreigners Act. “Five Bangladeshi immigrants have been arrested in Kadugodi. A case has been registered under the Foreigners Act, further investigations are still on,” he said.
The police has largely remained tight-lipped about the whereabouts of those arrested and giving out any further details on this case.
The issue of illegal Bangladeshi immigrants had been the favourite topic of Karnataka BJP leaders especially Bengaluru South MP, L. S. Tejasvi Surya, Bengaluru Central MP, P. C. Mohan, former minister Arvind Limbavali, BJP national general secretary, C. T. Ravi and former speaker K. G. Bopaiah who have often claimed large-scale illegal immigration of Bangladeshis in various parts of Karnataka, but failed to substantiate their charges with facts and figures.
The numbers from these politicians have always varied from a few thousand to over a lakh. JD(S) leader and former Chief Minister H. D. Kumaraswamy had said in 2015 that there were 40,000 illegal Bangladeshis in the state.
And in another instance, Bengaluru Central MP Mohan had raised a question in Parliament on illegal immigrants living in the Karnataka and measures taken to deport them, the Union Home Ministry had replied in July 2019 based on the information received from the Karnataka government, 143 cases had been registered against illegal Bangladeshi nationals in the State and 114 illegal Bangladeshi nationals had been deported from the state. This data pertains to those who had registered with the FRRO.
According to this, the Foreigners Regional Registration Office (FRRO), which said 837 foreigners from 20 countries registered with them are overstaying their visa tenures in the State. Most of them are from African countries and less than 200 of them are from Bangladesh. A senior FRRO official said Bangladeshis who come for medical treatment and on student visas make up most of those who register with the FRRO.
