3 Bengal residents pushed into Bangladesh by BSF, repatriated
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Kolkata/Jalpaiguri: Three Bengal residents, who were among five held by Mumbai Police and pushed into Bangladesh by BSF, were repatriated to India on Sunday after the Bengal govt flagged the incident to Centre.
The two others remain in custody of Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) and are likely to return soon.
Sources said Mumbai cops picked up four Murshidabad residents: Minarul Sekh of Beldanga, Nazimuddin Mondal of Hariharpara, Mehboob Sheikh of Bhagwangola and Dablu Sheikh of Ranitala, as well as Mustafa Kamal of East Burdwan's Monteswar earlier this month.
The five were first sent to Cooch Behar and then pushed into Bangladesh where they were apprehended by BGB.
They ended up in Bangladesh's Lalmonirhat. On Saturday, three of them made a video appeal to CM Mamata Banerjee seeking help to return home.
Trinamool Rajya Sabha member Samirul Islam, who heads Bengal's migrant workers welfare board, said, "The CM was informed about how Bengal residents were being illegally pushed into Bangladesh. The CM immediately asked the Bengal administration to take up the issue with Centre and bring them back."
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"BSF and BGB held a flag meeting. Three among them (Sekh, Mondal and Kamal) were sent back. They are now in Mekhliganj (Cooch Behar). The remaining two are expected to return on Monday," he added.
They were handed over to India around 4pm, said Mani Bhusan Sarkar, OC of Mekhliganj Police Station. "They are tired and yet to recover from their state of trauma," Sarkar said.
MP Islam said, "Just because the five spoke Bengali, Mumbai Police tagged them Bangladeshis without verifying their identity and decided to pack them off to the border and handed them over to BSF, who also did not cross-check the documents of these poor migrant workers."
Mondal's brother Mabub Ali said he was informed of his brother's return by the local police and MLA Niamat Sheikh.
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