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Crackdown on people of Bangladeshi origin staying in Rajasthan

— PHOTO: PTI

Relatives of a blast victim peep through the window of their house in Jaipur on Friday.

JAIPUR: The Rajasthan government on Friday initiated a crackdown on people of Bangladeshi origin staying illegally in the State.

As many as 40 such people with alleged criminal backgrounds were taken into custody for questioning while the Collectors were instructed to verify the migrant population in their districts for “foreigners staying illegally.”

“The Collectors have been asked to identify the persons staying illegally in their areas and report in the next 30 days. They have been asked to verify the voters list, the ration cards and other documents to check if the Bangladeshi nationals have managed to legalise their presence ,” Rajasthan Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Rajendra Singh Rathore said.

Talking about the influx of illegal migrants, he cited the example of Jaipur where the Bangladeshi population had reached 10,000 from 2,500 in a 2004 survey.

“In fact, the Bangladeshi infiltration is a national problem. The State government has spoken to the Special Secretary (Home) with the Union government in this regard.”

Three days after the serial blasts in the Walled City here, it appeared on Friday that the investigations had not made much headway.

The police authorities were still waiting for the responses on the sketches of four suspected persons released in the past two days. Also, they were not in a position to finally comment on the veracity of the video clip sent from Sahibabad to a media office claiming responsibility for the blasts.

Senior police functionaries refuted the rumours about the questioning of Shamim, who was interrogated in connection with the Ajmer Dargah blast in October 2007. They also overruled any link between a car with Delhi registration found parked in the compound of the Jaipur railway station and the serial blasts.

The speculation over the claim of the “Indian Mujahideen” for the blasts continued as the investigating agencies and the State police probed into the aspect further.

Rajasthan Chief Minister on Thursday had expressed doubts over the genuineness of the clip. “We are investigating on the video clip and other aspects as well for any possible link,” Sourabh Srivastava, Deputy Inspector General, said.

A senior police functionary told The Hindu that the frame number of the cycle in the clip (129489), presumably taken before the blast, tallied with that of the mangled cycle found outside the Kothwali police station after the blast.

Mr. Srivastava said the FSL reports on the bombs were yet to come while the bags used by the terrorists to keep the bombs on the cycles were being investigated into.

The reports that the one of the suspects whose sketch was released on the first day was seen with a woman in Udaipur two days prior to the incident also was being looked into, he informed.

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