Bangla woman was living in India for over 5 decades: Bareilly police

A Bangladeshi woman, Munara Bi, and her sisters were arrested in India for using forged documents to obtain passports and travel abroad nine times.

Bangladeshi woman Munara Bi, 65, who, along with her two younger sisters, residents of Hafizganj area of Uttar Pradesh’s Bareilly district, was arrested on Friday for allegedly acquiring two Indian passports using forged documents and used them to travel abroad nine times, crossed into India between 1970 and 1972, said Bareilly police on Saturday.

Bangladeshi woman Munara Bi and her two sisters were arrested from UP’s Bareilly on August 22. (Sourced)

Addressing a press conference, SP (city), Bareilly, Manush Parikh said Munara, originally from Jessore district of Khulna in Bangladesh, concealed her nationality and settled in Bareilly, where she married a local man, Mohammad Yaseen, and had four children.

Investigation revealed that Munara obtained her first Indian passport in 2011 and another in 2012 using different details. She travelled abroad nine times, claiming she went to work as a domestic help. Police said she was advised to apply for a second passport reflecting a younger age due to age-related restrictions.

Police recovered a large number of forged documents, including PAN cards, Aadhaar cards, voter ID cards, ration cards, passports and foreign travel tickets. Authorities are now probing how the women acquired these documents and who assisted them. The SP city said strict action will be taken against anyone found guilty of helping the three women. Meanwhile, Munara and her sisters Saira Bano, 48, and Taslima, 45, were sent to jail on Saturday.