By Scroll Staff
The Odisha Police on Friday formally informed the family of Muntaz Khan that he and his two elderly siblings had been deported to Bangladesh on December 24. This came more than a month after they were reported missing, following their detention by the police in Kendrapara district.
In a written intimation issued to the family, the police stated that 63-year-old Muntaz Khan, his 59-year-old brother Insaan Khan and their 70-year-old sister Ameena Bibi had been identified as Bangladeshis after “due verification”.
The document, seen by Scroll, added that the three persons had been handed over to the Border Security Force at Seemanagar in West Bengal’s Nadia district and were transferred to the Bangladesh Police on December 24.
It stated that the three siblings had been deported “as per practice in vogue”, in the presence of the police and officials from the intelligence bureau.
The intimation was issued weeks after the family said they had been kept in the dark about the whereabouts of the three elderly relatives.
Scroll had reported on Wednesday that the three persons were forced out of India and into Bangladesh, as confirmed by the Kendrapara superintendent of police on January 14.
The three had “confessed” to being Bangladeshis, the police officer had claimed.
He also said that the Odisha Police had contacted the authorities in West Bengal to verify the family’s claims that the three persons were Indian citizens. The authorities in Bengal had failed to verify the claims, the Odisha Police officer had told Scroll.
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