Shocking: Indian nationality for sale, at just Rs 5,000

Latif Azeem Gazhi PicSayed Sameer AbediIt was the perfect disguise till it lasted Nobody suspects a 62yearold gravedigger in Navi Mumbai of running an illegal immigration ring But underneath it all Latif Azeem Gazhi was a shark looking for his next kill mdash Bangladeshis at the Esplanade Court and selling them the lsquoIndian citizenshiprsquo for a measly sum of Rs 5000According to the Azad Maidan police that made the arrest Gazhirsquos modus operandi was fairly simple with the help of 34 associates he approached the illegal Bangladeshis who were arrested for staying in India without valid documents when they were brought to the EsplanadeKilla court for their hearings and offered them his servicesServices basically include sourcing all the documents that help them prove in court that they are Indian citizens not Bangladeshi nationals ldquoGazhi is a known name in the illegal immigrantsrsquo circuit especially Bangladeshis living in Mumbai He usually comes into the picture when it becomes imperative for them to prove their nationality to prevent being deportedrdquo said an officer from Azad Maidan police stationThe scale of the scamBut how did Gazhi manage to get access to the arrested accused According to the police he was in cahoots with some advocates who would get 3000 for their role to mainly get their thumb imprint when in custody and produce the forged documents mdash Birth Certificates School Leaving Certificate or Income Certificate from Hasnabad Gram Panchayat North 24 Pargana in West Bengal mdash in court to make their case On the basis of these documents all the accused secured bail Till date Special Branch of Mumbai police has connected 65 cases of suspected Bangladeshi nationals with GazhiA pattern detectedHowever a detailed scrutiny of their documents suddenly pointed at a pattern in play To investigate senior inspector Vijay Kadam formed a team comprising assistant police inspector Subhash Chavhan subinspector Vitthal Pisal and PSI Ananda Shivne Herersquos where the similarities began to pile upFirst documents proving their nationality were produced while the accused were serving jail sentence ldquoWe found a pattern in the bail process All accused got their documents from the same twothree advocates and middlemenrdquo said an officer explaining ldquoWe started working on this lead We also inquired at the gram panchayat whose letterhead was used and found that none of the officials had issued such certificatesrdquoFurther examination also revealed that many of the accused had given their thumbprint when in custody to their advocate who later secured bailldquoThis meant that the suspects were approached by the group when they were brought to the Killa Court We roped in a few informers to keep a tab on new Bangladeshi suspects while they were brought to the court One such informer got back to us with a lead that the kingpin of this operation is from Koparkhairane Navi Mumbairdquo said an officer close to the investigationsFollowing the revelation the branch filed complaint against all the 65 suspected bangladeshi national on March 1Was the target rightThe police said ldquoWe then started keeping a watch on Gazhi We thought we were targeting the wrong man he was a 60yearold who dug graves for a living He even lived near the cemetery in a shanty So we retraced our steps but to our surprise our informer was confident that it was Gazhi we were looking forrdquo However when they were trailing him they found that threefour people were always at his place at any given time ldquoThen last week we caught him redhanded at the Killa court when he was negotiating a deal with a Bangladeshi suspect We took Gazhi to his house and found stamps and some forged documents from his shantyrdquo said Vijay Kadam senior inspector of Azad Maidan Police station adding ldquoHe was produced in court and remanded to police custody till Mondayrdquo