Lucknow Police finds no illegal Bangladeshi after mayor’s claim of '2 lakh' suspects

Police in Lucknow are carrying out an intensive verification drive to check the alleged presence of Bangladeshi and Rohingya infiltrators in the city, but no illegal Bangladeshi national has been found so far, officials said, months after Mayor Sushma Kharkwal claimed that around 2 lakh “suspicious” people, described as Bangladeshi and Rohingya nationals, were living in the Uttar Pradesh capital.

Separately, BJP’s Lucknow metropolitan president Anand Dwivedi had submitted a list to the District Magistrate of Lucknow, seeking a thorough investigation into the matter.

The campaign to find 'Bangladeshi illegals' has been underway for several months across all five police zones of the Uttar Pradesh capital. Under the drive, police teams have conducted extensive checks ranging from slum clusters to areas marked as sensitive or suspicious. Officials said the operation is still ongoing.

According to the Joint Commissioner of Police (Law and Order), the special drive was launched on the directions of the State government. Police teams visited different localities and verified identity documents and other papers of people living in slums and temporary settlements.

“During the verification process, no person was confirmed to be a Bangladeshi citizen,” the official said.

Police said their inquiry revealed that a majority of people living in slum areas had migrated from Assam. These individuals produced valid identity documents and other papers, which were found to be genuine during verification. Officials added that so far, no forged or suspicious documents have been detected in the drive.

However, police cited a recent case in which the Thakurganj Police Station, acting on inputs from the Anti-Terrorist Squad, arrested a woman named Nargis. Fake Aadhaar cards were recovered from her possession, police said. Investigation revealed that the accused had entered India illegally from Bangladesh and had obtained Aadhaar cards under different names.

Following this case, verification efforts in the city were further intensified, officials said.

Informer network, intelligence agencies activated

Police said the informer network has been activated to identify illegal Bangladeshi nationals, and intelligence agencies are also assisting in the exercise. Police sources said several people who migrated from Assam and settled in Lucknow had obtained documents using local addresses, but no illegal Bangladeshi national has been identified so far.

Joint Commissioner of Police (Law and Order) Bablu Kumar said that at present, no Bangladeshi citizen has been found to be living illegally in Lucknow. “The search and verification operation is continuing. If any suspicious individual is found in future, strict legal action will be taken,” he said.

Police said further verification will continue across all zones to ensure that no illegal infiltration goes undetected.

In January 2025, Lucknow Mayor Sushma Kharkwal had claimed that around 2 lakh suspicious people were living in the city, whom she described as Bangladeshi and Rohingya nationals. On the issue, officials said that until the police submit a detailed report of the verification drive, it would be difficult to draw any definitive conclusions.