On Tuesday, March 21, Ballia Police arrested a shopkeeper who allegedly helped an illegal immigrant Rohingya to obtain an Indian passport. Izharul Haq, the alleged accused, resides on Bilthara Road and runs a bangle store in the Vishunipur area.
On Monday, Haq was arrested from Pauharipur on Gadwar Marg. He assisted Arman, alias Abu Talha, a Rohingya, in obtaining a passport.
Talha and Abdul Amin were arrested on March 14 by the Varanasi Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) team, who also found three Indian passports, multiple Aadhaar cards, two Indian voter identification cards, a PAN card, a UNHRC card, an ATM card, some foreign currency, two mobile phones, and a foreign SIM card in their possession.
During the police interrogation, Arman alias Abu Talha had disclosed this information. He stated that he is a Rohingya refugee who arrived in India in 2008 through the Indo-Myanmar international border and has been living there ever since. He formerly worked in a store in Manipur before moving to Ballia. He moved into a leased house and began residing in the Umarganj neighbourhood. Before the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, Armaan alias Abu Talha obtained a voter’s card from the brother of a former village head.
On the basis of a voter card, he managed to obtain PAN and Aadhar card. He received assistance from bangle store owner Izharul Haq in obtaining a passport. Armaan, alias Abu Talha, travelled to Bahrain and Saudi Arabia for ‘business’ purposes. In 2022, Talha returned to India and was staying in Pandua town of West Bengal’s Hooghly district. He was nabbed by the ATS when he came to Ballia for work related to some documents. On the basis of the details revealed by Abu Talha, the police are taking action against the other accused persons.
