Special Correspondent
Pune : A 34-year-old Bangladeshi man, Ehsan Hafiz Sheikh, has been arrested by the Patit Pawan organization in Pune for residing illegally in India and running a garment business in the Maharsinagar area for the past decade. The arrest was made following a tip-off about his illegal activities, and a case has been registered at the Swargate police station.
Sheikh, originally from Bangladesh and living in India since 2014, was found to be in possession of counterfeit Aadhar cards, voter IDs, PAN cards, and a passport. The police have seized these fake documents and are investigating how he managed to forge them.
Swapanil Naik, city president of the Patit Pawan organization, revealed that Sheikh had been operating a successful garment business in Maharsinagar, where he allegedly employed 15 individuals. He was discovered to be an infiltrator, having entered India illegally. After gathering information about his activities, Naik, along with members of the Kranti Veer Sena, captured Sheikh and handed him over to the police.
Further investigation has uncovered that Sheikh had lived in various parts of India before settling in Pune, including Lohgaon, Pimpri, and Andheri in Mumbai. In Pune, he ran a T-shirt printing business, producing shirts for local Ganesh Mandals. This involvement raised suspicions that he may have used the business as a cover for recruiting other Bangladeshis into India. Investigators suspect that Sheikh could have brought in between 200 and 300 people from Bangladesh.
Police Sub-Inspector Ashok Patil is leading the investigation, which is now looking into Sheikh’s network, including how he entered the country, who facilitated his stay in Pune, and whether he played a role in trafficking others. The state Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) has also been involved in the inquiry, given the scale of the operation. The police are continuing to probe whether Sheikh was operating with the help of a larger syndicate and the full extent of his illegal activities.
