‘Migrants detained for having Bangladeshi phone contacts, should include BCCI members by this logic’: Mahua

New Delhi: Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra has accused the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Odisha government of illegally detaining migrant workers Robiul Sheikh and Mohir Munshi from her constituency Krishnanagar, despite their documents being verified, reportedly because their phones contained Bangladeshi numbers.

She called the act “extra-constitutional” and threatened legal action against the state authorities.

The row started after the Odisha government, in a special campaign to crack down on illegal immigrants, detained 444 individuals in Jharsuguda district. Sources revealed that intel inputs had flagged the presence of a significant number of Bangladeshi nationals.

More than 400 migrants from various districts of West Bengal have been detained in Odisha since Monday night on suspicion of being Bangladeshi nationals.

She alleged that all the detained migrants were picked up “illegally” and later released after verification of documents that her office had submitted “on the first day itself, except two migrants.

Labelling the entire episode a misuse of power under the guise of national security, Moitra said, “What you are doing is illegal… You will really have to pay a heavy price for this because we will drag you to court.”

(Inputs taken from agencies)