Bhubaneswar: Police have arrested a Bangladeshi woman for allegedly staying in the city without valid documents.
The arrest assumes significance against the backdrop of the ongoing protests against National Register of Citizens (NRC).
According to police, the woman’s illegal stay came to light after she lodged a complaint of sexual assault against two men at Laxmisagar police station on December 17. She had accused a hotel manager, Mithun Swain, and a housekeeping staff, Bhubaneswar Patra, of misbehaving with her and physically assaulting her.
“The two persons were arrested and forwarded to court on the basis of the complaint,” Bhubaneswar DCP Anup Kumar Sahoo said.
The woman was later sent to a short stay home.
Subsequent investigation and verification of the complainant’s details revealed that she was a Bangladeshi national and had come to Odisha using a fake Aadhaar card, which she also admitted during interrogation. The woman also didn’t have a passport or visa.
In the Aadhaar card, the woman was identified as Sikha Samaddar of West Bengal. “We found that the West Bengal address mentioned in the Aadhar card was fake. On further interrogation, she admitted to have come from Bangladesh,” the DCP said.
She worked in a dance bar in Kolkata for some time and had moved to Bhubaneswar after coming in contact with a man here. She was later forced into the flesh trade in the city.
A case has been registered against her under Sections 419, 468, 471 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), and Section 14 of the Foreigners Act, the DCP added.
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