The Mumbai police on June 24 arrested a 36-year-old Bangladeshi woman, Champa Mandal alias Sweety Khatun, at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport for attempting to fly to Dhaka using an Indian passport, which they later discovered was acquired using fake documents. Authorities have since handed over her eight-year-old daughter to her Indian father.

Mandal, originally from Hatvilla Kotvali, Bangladesh, has been living in Vashi since 2008 and married Indian citizen Kartikkumar Sen in 2012. She gave birth to her daughter in 2017. According to her Indian passport, the girl is now eight years old.

The case came to light when Immigration Officer Ganesh Gawli noticed inconsistencies in Mandal’s travel documents as she and her daughter prepared to board Air India flight AI-2183 to Dhaka. Suspicious of her accent and unable to get a satisfactory explanation for her travel, Gawli escalated the matter. Upon questioning by senior immigration officers, Mandal admitted that both she and her daughter were Bangladeshi nationals.