New Delhi: A Special Court of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in Mumbai has sentenced three Bangladeshi nationals to five years in prison for illegally entering India and possessing forged identification documents, according to a statement from the investigation agency released on Wednesday.
The convicted individuals—Mohammed Habibur Rehman Habib (also known as Raj Jesub Mandal), Hannan Anwar Hussain Khan (alias Hannan Baburali Gazi), and Mohd Azarali Subhanallah (alias Raja Jesub Mandal)—received fines of Rs 2,000 each.
The case originated in March 2018 following a First Information Report (FIR) filed by Pune Police, which alleged that several Bangladeshi nationals were living in Pune without proper documentation and were linked to the Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT), associated with the banned terrorist organization Al-Qaida.
The investigation was taken over by the NIA, which filed a charge sheet against the three accused and two others—Md Ripen Hossain (also known as Rubel) and Md Hassnali Amirali—on September 7, 2018, under several relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Foreigners Act.
Ripen Hossain and Mohammad Hassan Ali Amirali had previously been convicted in October 2023 after pleading guilty to similar charges, also receiving five-year prison sentences.
According to the NIA, the accused had been working as laborers at various construction sites in Pune without valid documentation. The latest convictions were made under section 14 of the Foreigners Act (for overstaying in India illegally), section 471 of the IPC (for using forged documents), and section 120-B of the IPC (for conspiracy related to document forgery). The investigation revealed that they fraudulently obtained PAN cards, Aadhaar cards, voter IDs, and ration cards using fake documents.