City Briefs
83 Bangladeshi nationals held in east Delhi for illegal stay
New Delhi: Delhi Police has apprehended 83 Bangladeshi nationals, including 33 minors, from various localities of east Delhi for staying illegally in the national capital, an official on Sunday said. The action was part of an ongoing special drive launched in November 2024 to identify and take legal action against illegal immigrants, police said. “So far, a total of 120 Bangladeshi nationals have been apprehend under the drive,” said the officer. Of the 83 people detained, 44 are women and 39 are men, he added. The officer said that they were found residing in areas, including Mandawali, Mayur Vihar, Kalyanpuri and localities like Ghazipur and Anand Vihar. “Acting on a tip-off, a series of raids were conducted on June 24 in the identified areas. Digital evidence, including photographs and documents linked to Bangladeshi citizenship, were recovered from the detainees’ mobile phones,” he added. The preliminary investigation revealed that the apprehended people had entered India illegally through unauthorised riverine routes along the Indo-Bangladesh border and lacked valid identity or travel documents, police said. Legal deportation formalities have been completed in coordination with the Foreigners Regional Registration Office (FRRO), they said. The FRRO is primarily responsible for registering and monitoring the stay of foreign nationals in India.
94,000 packs of banned foreign cigarettes seized in Delhi, 2 held
New Delhi: A raid at a godown in south Delhi’s Vasant Kunj area led to the recovery of 94,000 packets of banned foreign cigarettes and arrest of two men, including a Karnataka native, police said on Sunday.
According to the police, the accused — Parikshit (22), a local, and PP Chengappa (40), from Karnataka and the godown’s owner — used to import cigarettes from countries like Greece and Dubai and distribute them across Delhi-NCR and southern India. Cigarette packets of multiple foreign brands having no mandatory health warnings or Maximum Retail Price (MRP) — a violation of the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act (COTPA) — were recovered from the godown, located in the basement of a residential building, they said. “A team received a tip-off on June 27 regarding illegal cigarette stock stored in the area. Acting on the input, a raid was conducted, leading to the recovery of multiple foreign brands of cigarettes,” a police officer said. The police said Parikshit had learned the trade from his father, who is in the import-export business at the airport, and later began operating independently. “He got involved in the cigarette racket after meeting a Bengaluru-based man named Sunil, who introduced him to Chengappa,” the officer said. Chengappa was allegedly working for Sunil’s cargo and courier business and was handling logistics and distribution of the contraband in Delhi and other places, the police said. The two men were arrested from the Nangal Dewat area of Vasant Kunj, they said. An FIR under the COTPA has been registered at Vasant Kunj South Police Station and both have been arrested and further investigation is underway to trace the full supply chain.
30-year-old Man found dead with throat slit in Delhi house
New Delhi: A 30-year-old man was found dead with his throat slit inside his house in Delhi’s Metro Vihar area on Sunday, police said. The body of Sunil Mandal was found on the ground floor of house number A-907, where he lived on rent, at around 7.40 am, they said. Police said Mandal, a native of Darbhanga district of Bihar, worked in Delhi as a waiter. A forensics team was called to the scene and is conducting a detailed inspection and evidence collection, police said, adding no arrests have been made so far and the motive behind the murder is yet to be established.
