Mumbai: A Bangladeshi national, who had illegally entered India nearly 20 years ago and had been living under a false Indian identity, was arrested at Mumbai airport by alert immigration officials. The man, identified as Iklaj Molla, had been working in Kuwait for the past 11 years using a fake Indian passport.

According to officials, Molla had been living in India illegally since 2005 after crossing the Benapole border into West Bengal. Over the next nine years, he fraudulently obtained fake identity documents under an assumed Indian name. Based on these forged documents, he managed to secure an Indian passport from the Kolkata Regional Passport Office in 2014 and moved to Kuwait for employment.

Using the money he earned abroad, Molla purchased properties in Kolkata and was planning to bring his family from Bangladesh to settle in India. On September 14, while returning to India to execute this plan, his activities came under suspicion.

Immigration officer Ganesh Gawli noticed frequent entries to Bangladesh recorded in his passport and questioned him about the repeated visits. Unable to answer convincingly or speak fluent Indian languages, Molla’s true identity was soon uncovered. Following verification, he was confirmed to be a Bangladeshi national.

Subsequently, Sahar Police arrested him for illegal entry, possession of forged documents, and impersonation. Investigations are underway to identify others who may have helped him obtain Indian documents and passport fraudulently.

New Delhi, Oct 22: In a significant breakthrough, Delhi Police has arrested a wanted criminal, Rishabh alias Ritik alias Dancer, following an exchange of fire in Dwarka Sector-3, officials said on Wednesday.

The accused, wanted in a recent murder case registered at Bindapur Police Station, was apprehended by a joint team from the Anti-Narcotics Cell (ANC) and the Anti-Auto Theft Squad (AATS) of Dwarka.

According to the police statement, the encounter occurred on October 22, after a tip-off was received regarding the movement of the absconding accused.

“Credible information was received by team Anti Narcotics Dwarka that the absconding accused Rishabh @ Ritik @ Dancer would come to the area of Sector-3, Dwarka, New Delhi. Acting upon the information, a raiding team was constituted under the supervision of Inspector Subhash Chand, I/C ANC & Inspector Kamlesh Kumar, I/C AATS Dwarka,” the statement read.

When police attempted to apprehend Rishabh, he opened fire on the team. In retaliation, officers returned fire, during which the accused sustained a gunshot injury and was taken to Indira Gandhi Hospital for medical treatment.

Inspector Subhash Chand, who led the operation, was also injured in the exchange and is undergoing treatment for a gunshot wound on his left arm at Venkateshwar Hospital, officials said.

Rishabh is the prime accused in the murder of Kuldeep, a resident of Raja Puri, Uttam Nagar. The murder occurred during the night of August 17-18.

Two co-accused, Pawan alias Punjabi and his associate, were arrested earlier. However, Rishabh had been absconding since the incident.

“After committing the murder, he came into contact with local criminals and was planning to eliminate witnesses,” police said, citing intelligence inputs.

A sophisticated pistol, two live cartridges, and two empty cartridges were recovered from the scene. Police have initiated a separate criminal case at PS Dwarka North in connection with the shootout.

Investigations are ongoing to ascertain the full extent of Rishabh’s previous criminal involvement and his links with local gangs.

Kolkata, Oct 22: All six accused in the Durgapur gang-rape case will be produced before a court on Wednesday, with the police likely to seek an extension of their custody for further investigations in the case.

According to the police, the arrested male friend of the victim, Wasif Ali, will be produced before the court along with the other accused in the case.

Sources said there are discrepancies in statements provided by the accused persons, including the male friend of the victim, which posed challenges before investigators in conducting the probe. Therefore, there is a need to extend the custody of the accused to fill the gaps in the investigation process, sources said.

On Tuesday, the statements of two of the six accused in connection with the rape case of the second-year medical student were recorded before the judicial magistrate at a court.

Insiders from the Asansol-Durgapur Police Commissionerate said the statements of two were recorded under Section 183 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) 2023, which allows a judicial magistrate to record confessions and statements from an accused person or witness during an investigation.

After the statements were recorded in front of the judicial magistrate on Tuesday, the two accused persons were sent back to custody. Now, with the statements of two of the six accused persons being recorded in front of the judicial magistrate, there is a possibility that the two might turn approvers in the case.

During the six-day questioning, the police have found discrepancies in the statements of the Durgapur gang-rape victim’s male friend and five arrested youths from the local village. The police are trying to find some missing links in this gang-rape case, officials said.

On October 10, the second-year medical student from Odisha was allegedly gang-raped by five persons in a forested area outside a private medical college and hospital in West Burdwan district’s Durgapur.

Based on the complaint lodged by the victim, the police earlier arrested all five accused persons in the case. The police said that only one person was involved in the physical sexual assault of the medical student. Later, the police arrested the male friend of the victim. The male friend was arrested after investigators found inconsistencies in his response during interrogation. He is also currently in police custody.

The victim’s father, meanwhile, has demanded a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the incident to punish the culprits quickly.