On September 29, the authorities arrested four Pakistani nationals from the outskirts of Bengaluru as 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.
Notably, the raid was conducted in Jagani on the outskirts of Bengaluru. The action was taken following the information provided by intelligence personnel after two Pakistanis were arrested at Chennai International Airport. The Pakistani nationals were arrested when immigration officers discovered they were using forged passports when they landed at Chennai International Airport from Dhaka. A probe indicated that they were Siddiqui’s relatives. A police enquiry led the authorities to Rashid Ali Siddiqui.
Reportedly, the couple travelled to Delhi in 2014 before relocating to Bengaluru. Previously, the family had resided in Dhaka, Bangladesh where Siddiqui and Ayesha were married. The Siddiqui family was packing to leave the residence when police 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.
According to the media reports, 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. 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.
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