Pune: A day after Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), led by Raj Thackeray, launched a "drive" against suspected illegal Bangladeshis in Pune, three men from the minority community were questioned by police after some workers of the party claimed they were from the neighbouring nation.
On Sunday, one of the men filed a complaint with the police alleging that a few MNS workers barged into his house and harassed him.
The alleged incident occurred on Saturday under Sahakar Nagar police station limits. "Upon suspicion that some people living in the area were illegal Bangladeshi nationals, we asked police to probe them. The suspicious residents were then brought to the police station. They were released after an inquiry in the evening," said an MNS leader.
A senior police officer said when MNS workers were on their way to the area, police marshals also went there.
"The police brought some persons the MNS claimed to be Bangladeshis to the police station and verified their credentials. We found that none of them was an illegal migrant," he said.
However, one of them alleged that some workers of the MNS had barged into his house and labelled him as a Bangladeshi national though he hailed from West Bengal. The party workers also demanded documentary evidence from the men to prove their citizenship, according to a report in The Indian Express.
Roshan Shaikh, a father of two, said he hails from Hooghly district and moved to Pune in 1998, claiming he has been staying at the same location.
"I tried to convince them that I am not a Bangladeshi. I am an Indian citizen and showed them all the documents, but they did not listen to me and later took me to the police station," the man said.
“At the police station, the policemen took details of my mother in Hooghly and called her. Although she confirmed that I belong to Hooghly, the police officer asked her to go to the nearest police station and request the local officers to re-confirm that I was her son born in India. My mother had to rush to the Pandua police station and request the policeman to speak to cops in Pune. Even after this condition was met, they made me wait at the police station for a few hours, while my wife and kids anxiously waited for me," Shaikh was quoted as saying in The Indian Express.
The man filed a complaint with Sahakar Nagar police station seeking action against the MNS workers. While one of the men operates a Kachhi Dabeli stall, the other is an electrician. Shaikh earns a living by polishing gold and silver jewellery.
Addressing a rally of MNS workers in Mumbai on February 9, Raj Thackeray had demanded the eviction of illegal Pakistani and Bangladeshi "infiltrators". A few days before that, he had declared his complete support to the Narendra Modi government over the eviction of illegal immigrants.
(With inputs from PTI)
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