Bangladesh man ‘illegally’ settles in India, infiltrates more to expand business

Two women - one in India and another one in Bangladesh with the former married to Farhan Khan and the latter to Mohd Iqbal Hossain - were completely unaware that those were not two men but just one.

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Mohd Iqbal Hossain, alias Farhan Khan, was living a double life for his two separate families in India and Bangladesh, keeping both women in dark.

However, that was not his only crime. Khan, who himself was an illegal immigrant, was clandestinely infiltrating more people and running a syndicate involved in facilitating illegal entry of Bangladeshi nationals and settlement in India.

His activities would have remained unnoticed had the Crime Branch of the Delhi Police not covertly deployed its personnel in weekly markets of the city posing as garment vendors to develop intelligence.

The operation resulted in identifying a suspected person named Mohd Iqbal Hossain, alias Farhan Khan, who was illegally residing in Delhi and trafficking Bangladeshi nationals to expand his garment business.

“Hossain was caught and incriminating materials, including Indian passport, Aadhaar, voter, PAN cards, driving licenses of Indian names as well as their Bangladeshi documents and mobile phones,” DCP (Crime) Aditya Gautam said.

Hossain’s interrogation revealed that he went to England from Bangladesh in 2004 on a work permit for two years, where he worked in delivery services and restaurants.

“He stayed in England till 2009 and then returned to Bangladesh where he ran a grocery shop in Sunamganj until 2016. During this period, he got married in Bangladesh and has a daughter. His wife and daughter are presently residing in Bangladesh,” Gautam said.

In 2017, he illegally entered India through Assam border and travelled to Delhi by train. In Delhi, he lived in Jamia Nagar, and started his garment business.

Within a year, he again married a woman from Madhya Pradesh without telling her that he was a Bangladeshi national. With this marriage, he had two daughters.

“At present, he is engaged in the business of selling garments in weekly markets and earning hefty profits. During this period, he also rented a ticketing shop at Lifestyle Mall,” the officer said.

In a bid to ensure the smooth functioning of his garment business, Hossain, now turned Farhan Khan, needed workers. So, he illegally trafficked several Bangladeshi nationals to Delhi through the Assam border with the help of human traffickers based in the NCR.

“In 2020, he was also arrested by the Crime Branch for selling illegal SIM cards. He even visited Bangladesh twice using a Business Purpose Visa on an Indian passport since 2021,” the officer said, adding they arrested two more Bangladesh immigrants and one Indian facilitator.