NIA Court Sentences Three Bangladeshi Nationals to 5 Years Imprisonment for Illegal Infiltration and Document Forgery

Mumbai: A National Investigation Agency (NIA) Special Court in Mumbai has sentenced three Bangladeshi nationals to five years of imprisonment for entering India illegally and possessing forged documents. The convicted individuals were fined Rs 2,000 each.

Mohammed Habibur Rehman Habib alias Raj Jesub Mandal, Hannan Anwar Hussain Khan alias Hannan Baburali Gazi, and Mohd Azarali Subhanallah alias Raja Jesub Mandal were found guilty of various charges including overstaying in India without valid documentation, using forged documents as genuine, and conspiracy related to document forgery.

According to the NIA, the case originated in March 2018 when Pune Police registered an FIR. The agency claimed that several Bangladeshi nationals were residing in Pune without proper documentation and were involved with the Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT), a front organisation of the banned terror group Al-Qaida.

The three new convicts were part of a group of five individuals who worked as labourers at various construction sites in Pune without valid documents. The previous two convicts, Md Ripen Hossain and Mohammad Hassan Ali Amirali, were sentenced earlier this year after pleading guilty to similar charges.

The NIA stated that the accused fraudulently obtained PAN cards, Aadhaar cards, voter IDs, and ration cards by providing fake documents. The agency took over the investigation from the ATS in September 2018 and filed a charge sheet against the five individuals under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Foreigners Act.

The case falls under section 14 of the Foreigners Act (overstaying in India without valid documentation), section 471 of the IPC (using forged documents as genuine), and section 120-B of the IPC (conspiracy related to document forgery).