IN JUST about a month since the Pahalgam terror attack on April 22 that killed 26 people, Delhi Police has, in a concerted capital-wide drive, identified 470 people as and another 50 as foreigners who have overstayed, air-lifted them from Hindon air base to Agartala in Tripura, and deported them via the land border to Bangladesh.
A Police officer said the Union Ministry of Home Affairs had directed them late last year to undertake a verification exercise to identify and detain illegal Bangladeshi migrants and Rohingya.
Between November 15, 2024, and April 20, 2025, around 220 illegal migrants and 30 overstaying foreigners were caught by Delhi Police, data available with the MHA shows. They were handed over to the Foreigners’ Regional Registration Office (FRRO), taken by rail and road to eastern states, and sent to Bangladesh via land borders.
But after Pahalgam, there has been some urgency. “Over the last one month, around 3-4 special flights went from the Hindon air base in Ghaziabad to Agartala to drop all illegal migrants,” a police officer said. Cumulatively, over the last six months, about 700 illegals have been sent back to Bangladesh, he said.
Initially, directions were given to Deputy Commissioners of Police (DCPs) of all 15 districts to conduct verification drives and detain illegal Bangladeshi migrants and Rohingya. “Then, a team of the first battalion of Delhi Police and FRRO officials travelled via trains taking the detained illegal migrants to West Bengal. They then took the bus and handed over all illegal migrants to the Border Security Force (BSF), and finally deported them to Bangladesh,” a source aware of the operations said.
After the formed the government in Delhi, Union Home Minister is learnt to have directed police to dismantle the larger conspiracy. “Police were asked to increase the level of investigation and take strict legal action against networks that help illegal Bangladeshis and Rohingya enter India, and help them obtain fake documents,” the source said.
States HAD been given 30 days to verify credentials of suspected illegals from Bangladesh and Myanmar. If the documents were not verified, these people were to be deported. Now, new MHA instructions are to plug loopholes in grant of identification papers.
Multiple FIRs were registered by the district police, Crime Branch and Special Cell to detect who provided facilities for the entry of the illegals, arranged for them to settle in India, created fake identity documents, obtained address proof, arranged jobs in Delhi and even facilitated accommodation.
After the Pahalgam terror attack on April 22, the Union Home Ministry is learnt to have asked Delhi Police to intensify detection and deport all illegal migrants at the earliest. “Around five makeshift holding centres were built by Delhi Police; they were told to coordinate with the FRRO, and drop the illegal migrants in a special plane to Agartala airport and West Bengal,” the source said.
According to data with the MHA, of the 34,265 people suspected to be illegal Bangladeshi migrants and reviewed by Delhi Police, documents of 33,217 people were found to be genuine. Document verification of 278 people is still under process.
Prior to this, Manral had extensively reported on city-based crime stories along with that he also covered the anti-corruption branch of the Delhi government for a decade. He is known for his knack for News and a detailed understanding of stories. He also worked with Mail Today as a senior correspondent for eleven months. He has also worked with The Pioneer for two years where he was exclusively covering crime beat.
During his initial days of the career he also worked with The Statesman newspaper in the national capital, where he was entrusted with beats like crime, education, and the Delhi Jal Board. A graduate in Mass Communication, Manral is always in search of stories that impact lives.
