East Delhi robbery: How accused got Indian identity for just Rs 2,000

NEW DELHI: Mohammed Ikram (32), the kingpin of the gang, hailed from Khulna district in Bangladesh. But the police were in for a surprise when they nabbed him—he had a genuine Aadhaar card issued in his name, which showed him as a resident of F Block, Sundar Nagri, northeast Delhi.
This had almost led the police to free him as the suspect they were looking for was a Bangladeshi national. But the police nailed him as a phone number mentioned in a chit of paper found in a bag recovered from a crime scene earlier turned out to be his. Ikram had used his Aadhaar card to buy the SIM card from Kanpur, and the police tracked him down with the number.

Preet Vihar SHO Maninder Singh’s team then probed deeper and found that Ikram had also managed to procure a voter ID card on his Delhi address several years ago with which he had got the Aadhaar card made. For that, he had contacted another Bangladeshi national named Kalam who ran a racket of preparing fake identification documents for illegal immigrants. For the voter card, Ikram had paid Kalam Rs 2,000.

This particular case shows how helpless police have become without any official intelligence on illegal migrants or action against them. Six years ago, Delhi Police had to wind up its ‘Bangladeshi cells’ that had been created in all districts for crime control. Since then, police have been dealing with the illegal immigrants unofficially. In most cases, they identify and inform the Foreign Regional Registration Office, which detains and deports them.

The Special Cell also keeps an eye on these illegal migrants. In June, the Cell had arrested Umar Farukh Khan from Bangladesh who had managed to get an Indian passport and had been living in Delhi on his return from Saudi Arabia.

Police say around 4 lakh Bangladeshis are estimated to be living in Delhi. The preferred route of entry is via trains from Kolkata. Sources say that intelligence wing sleuths and police from other units do keep an eye on Delhi- bound trains from West Bengal to identify suspects. But they can’t act until there is proof of their involvement in any crime.

Ikram’s gang had been committing crimes since 1994. A list shows they were involved in some sensational robberies in 1994, 2002, 2005, 2009, 2017 and 2018. But they managed to evade arrest all these years.