Bangladeshi criminal hiding under guise of ‘sadhu’ in Bengal held

Kolkata: A Bangladeshi criminal, who had entered India and had been hiding in West Bengal under the guise of a monk, was arrested from Nadia district, police said on Sunday.

Acting on a tip-off, sleuths of the West Bengal STF, along with the local police, conducted a raid in the Tehatta area on Saturday night and apprehended 60-year-old Mohammed Hashem Mallik, also known as Hashem Ali Mallik, who was wanted in several cases in Bangladesh, an officer said.

Based on a complaint lodged by Sub-Inspector Mohammed Abdun Noor Chowdhury of the West Bengal Special Task Force, an investigation was started, he said.

“Hashem was allegedly involved in heinous crimes in Bangladesh. He created a fake Indian identity and had been hiding in Baliura Purba Para in Tehatta. We had information about him. With the help of local police, we conducted a raid and arrested him on Saturday evening,” the officer said.

The accused was apprehended after he failed to produce valid identity documents to prove himself as an Indian, the police said.

“During preliminary interrogation, the Bangladeshi criminal admitted that he had crossed the border to escape legal proceedings in Bangladesh for the crimes he committed there,” the officer said, adding that he also confessed to having forged Indian identity documents.