Rohingyas took advantage of Zakat

The two Rohingya nationals arrested by Rachakonda police on Thursday on charges of cheating and forgery had taken advantage of the zakat donations made during Ramzan.

The 2.03-minute video that Mohd Ayub, 39, and Ahmad Noor, 32, made and uploaded on Facebook was widely shared in the community, attracting donations from as far away as Kuwait, the UAE and other Gulf countries and North India.

They had allegedly entered India illegally through Bangladesh a few months ago, and had secured United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) cards. They were taking shelter in the refugee camps at Balapur.

Before Ramzan, they told camp residents that they can make a video highlighting their woes, and use that to seek zakat. They promised to distribute the donation equally among all women.

They gathered 20 Rohingya women from the camps, brought them together in a room with a roof made of tin sheets and shot a video. The women spoke of how they were suffering and the help they needed during Ramzan.

Noor uploaded the video on his Facebook page which was shared among the Rohingyas and gained attention elsewhere. Donations began flowing in, and the duo collected `2.14 lakh from around 30 donors from Kuwait, the UAE and neighbouring nations, West Bengal, Bihar and a few other states. They started using the money and did not share it among them.

Tipped off about this misuse of donations, cops nabbed them and recovered letterheads in the name of Rohingya refugee community Hyderabad, an unregistered organisation.

They had travelled by flight to Mumbai and Delhi to meet donors. Police seized `33,400 cash, a chain and mobiles.