On 29th September the authorities arrested four Pakistani nationals from the outskirts of Bengaluru. They have been residing in India for ten years under fake identities. The accused have been identified as Rashid Ali Siddiqui (48), his wife Ayesha (38) and her parents Hanif Mohammed (73) and Rubina (61). They stayed in Rajpura village under the aliases Shankar Sharma, Asha Rani, Ram Babu Sharma and Rani Sharma.
The raid was conducted in Jagani on the outskirts of Bengaluru. The action transpired based on information provided by intelligence personnel after two Pakistanis were nabbed at Chennai International Airport. The Pakistani nationals were apprehended when immigration officers discovered they were using forged passports when they landed at Chennai International Airport from Dhaka. An investigation indicated that they were Siddiqui’s relatives. A police enquiry led the authorities to Rashid Ali Siddiqui.
The couple reportedly travelled to Delhi in 2014 before relocating to Bengaluru. The family had previously resided in Dhaka, Bangladesh where Siddiqui and Ayesha were married.
The Siddiqui family was packing to leave the residence when a police squad showed up to take them into custody. When questioned, Siddiqui admitted that he had been residing in Bengaluru since 2018. He also showed the Indian passports and Aadhaar cards belonging to the family, which had Hindu names. Cops found “Mehdi Foundation International Jahsan-e-Younus” written on the walls of the house. They further discovered images of Islamic clerics as well.
How Siddiqui landed in India
As per an Indian Express report, Siddiqui confirmed that he and his family were from Pakistan, during questioning. His wife and her family were from Lahore and he was from Liaquatabad in Karachi. He disclosed that he was married virtually in 2011 while Ayesha was in Bangladesh with her parents. Siddiqui added that he had to move to Bangladesh due to the persecution of religious leaders in Pakistan. He worked as a preacher in Bangladesh and was financially supported by the Mehdi Foundation, according to the First Information Report.
However, Siddiqui faced attacks in Bangladesh in 2014. As a result, he made contact with Parvez from the Mehdi Foundation in India and relocated to the country illegally. Afterwards, Siddiqui, his wife, in-laws and relatives Mohammed Yasin alias Karthik Sharma and Zainabi Noor alias Neha Sharma travelled from Bangladesh to India through West Bengal’s Malda with the assistance of intermediaries.
He decided to go to Bengaluru when Wasim and Altaf, two locals, requested him to preach there in 2018 while he was visiting Nepal. The Mehdi Foundation compensated him for his Islam-preaching broadcasts on Alra TV, while Altaf handled the rent. Additionally, he sold food items and supplied oils to garages. His in-laws even opened bank accounts in Bengaluru. Siddiqui informed the police that he had been dispatched to Bengaluru to “promote religious teachings of his leader” by his “handlers” from Bangladesh.
What the police said
A police official informed, “Our Jigani Inspector investigated a matter and registered a case. Four people of a family were residing here illegally with the help of fraudulent documents. Now, a case has been registered and those four people are being interrogated. Based on the outcome of the interrogation, we will take further action.” According to the officers, the family obtained fake documents and spent the previous six years renting an apartment in Jigani.
A police official stated that they obtained duplicate driving licenses, passports, and Aadhaar cards under a false identity as the “Sharma” family while they were living in Delhi initially where Siddiqui delivered sermons on behalf of the Mehdi Foundation.
The cop added, “We have collected details about them and are investigating the case. They were supplying materials to a garage but that needs to be investigated.” According to the authorities, Siddiqui might be a member of a sleeper cell. “After coming here, I used to call my relatives in Pakistan,” he unveiled to the cops.
A case has been filed under sections 468 (forgery committed with the intent to deceive), 471 (using a forged document or electronic record as real) and 420 (cheating) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) as well as under the Passport Act. The racket surfaced recently when immigration officers apprehended Mohammed Yasin, his wife Zainab Noor, Altaf Ahmed and his wife Fathima Gohar, who had gone to Bangladesh to meet their religious leader and were returning via Chennai.
