The Pune police have arrested 21 Bangladeshi nationals residing illegally in the Ranjangaon area of Pune district, according to a senior official on Tuesday. The group included 15 men, four women, and two individuals from the third gender, most of whom were employed as labourers at construction sites in Karegaon, part of the Ranjangaon MIDC, located more than 50 kilometres from Pune city.
The arrests followed an operation led by the Anti-Terrorism Cell of the Pune Rural Police. Assistant Police Inspector Prakash Pawar and Assistant Sub-Inspector Vishal Gavhane, during their patrol in the Ranjangaon MIDC area, received a tip-off about illegal migrants in Karegaon, said a senior official. Based on this information, the team conducted an investigation and found the individuals without valid documentation.
According to Superintendent of Police (SP) Deshmukh, the preliminary investigation revealed that these individuals had been residing in India for varying durations, ranging from six months to ten years. Many of them worked as construction labourers or security guards. Documents, including a voter ID card, an Aadhaar card, and a PAN card, were recovered from some of the accused, raising concerns about the ease with which identification documents were obtained.
SP Deshmukh stated that these Bangladeshi nationals had entered India through both sea and land routes. Police are currently investigating the possibility of an organized network involved in smuggling people into the country. They are particularly focused on identifying any agents or facilitators who helped the accused cross into India illegally and acquire documents.
An official case has been registered at the Ranjangaon MIDC police station under the relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), the Passports Act, and the Foreigners Act. Senior Police Officer Mahadev Waghmode confirmed that investigations are ongoing to trace others involved and assess the broader implications of this illegal immigration.