Rohingya living on Indian identity for 18 years held

LUCKNOW : A rohingya Muslim, Aziz-ul-Haque alias Azizullah, who was residing in UP’s Sant Kabir Nagar district on Indian identity for nearly 18 years, was arrested by the UP Anti Terrorism Squad (ATS), said Prashant Kumar, additional director general (ADG), law and order, here on Wednesday.

Investigation revealed that lakhs of rupees were transferred into Aziz’s bank accounts from different sources, including some from abroad, following which terror funding angle was also being probed.

The Anti Terrorism Squad carried out searches at multiple locations in UP and other states and took some more people into custody on the basis of information given by Aziz, said the additional director general.

He said those taken into custody were being quizzed.

Anti Terrorism Squad officials said they recovered two Indian passports from Aziz and he had travelled to Saudi Arabia and Bangladesh. Other Indian documents, including Aadhaar card, PAN card, ration card, bank pass books, ration card and three debit cards were recovered from him, he added.

He said the suspect’s original identity was Azizul Haque, son of Mohd Shareef, a resident of Akkyab, Rakhaiyn district of Burma.

But he was living with a changed identity of Azizullah, son of Badre Alam, a resident of Naura village under Butidang police station limits of Sant Kabir Nagar.

The additional director general said the suspect entered Indian territory illegally in 2001 and met Badre Alam’s son, Innayatullah, in Mumbai.

He introduced himself as an orphan to Badre Alam and his family, following which they kept him in their house as their family member on humanitarian grounds.

Badre Alam informed the police that he got his name added in the ration card of his family in 2002, on the basis of which Aziz later procured Indian passports and other local documents on Sant Kabir Nagar address.

He said the suspect even got prepared a forged marksheet and transfer certificate of local primary school in Sant Kabir Nagar.

The suspect even brought his mother, Abida Khatoon, sister Fatima Khatoon and her husband Noor Alam and two brothers – Zia-u-ul Haque and Mohd Noor in 2017. Aziz’s brother Zia was living in Nashik while his brother-inlaw Noor Alam and another brother Mohd Noor disappeared after visiting Khalilabad few months ago, revealed the probe.

The Anti Terrorism Squad registered an FIR under different sections of fraud, forgery and impersonation, as well as violation of foreigners act and passport act against Aziz in Lucknow, said the additional director general.