Uttarakhand police would initiate a month-long special verification drive to identify the suspicious people from other States now settled here. The month-long drive would start on January 15. The director general, law and order and crime, Ashok Kumar said that all the district police in-charges have been directed to conduct the drive.
He said that the focus of the drive would be trained on identifying the people with criminal background and emphasis would be laid on ensuring that verification of such people is done from the places they originally hail from. The DG directed that all the legal processes should be followed when Bangladeshi residents are identified.
He further said that the police personnel have been asked to show decency and ensure that the people are not unnecessarily disturbed during the drive. Ashok Kumar further said that weekly review of the progress of the drive would be done by the district in-charges concerned.
The drive to be launched by the police has assumed significance as reports of outsiders and Bangladeshis settled here being engaged in criminal activity are common in Uttarakhand.
Recently, Dehradun police have arrested two Bangladeshis who were residing in Dehradun for many years after marrying local girls. One of the illegal Bangladeshi immigrant had even secured Indian passport on the basis of fake documents.
Notably, BJP MLA from Khanpur, Pranav Singh ‘Champion’ had sparked a furore in August last year when he had claimed that a large number of Rohingya Muslims (illegal settlers from Myanmar) were residing in Haridwar district.
Following the disclosure made by the BJP MLA, the State Government had denied presence of Rohingya Muslims in Uttarakhand but had declared that a drive to identify illegal immigrants would be undertaken in the State soon.