The recent arrests of Pakistani nationals living under false Hindu names using Indian documents in Bengaluru’s Jigani has uncovered a deeper, troubling network of illegal immigration, while posing serious questions on national security and identity verification processes.
The Karnataka Police recently caught 18 Pakistani nationals living illegally in Bengaluru. Ten additional arrests came after the arrest of Parvez Ahmed, alias Farvez, on October 7. With these arrests, the number of illegal Pakistani nationals staying under false names in southern India now stands at 22, including the four arrested at Chennai airport on September 29.
The interrogation of Parvez, the main handler for these illegal immigrants, enabled the authorities to track, trace and crack down on several such illegal Pakistani immigrants living under fake identities in the state. He was arrested on the outskirts of Bengaluru while travelling from Mumbai.
The 18 have identified themselves as Sufis and followers of Ra Riaz Gohar Shahi, a spiritual leader in Pakistan, and are affiliated to the Mehdi Foundation International (MFI). A banned organisation in Pakistan, the MFI is now based in London and, according to their website, aims to promote inter-religious harmony and peace.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) and Intelligence Bureau (IB) are also gathering information on this network and its illegal activities. The central and state investigative agencies have reportedly widened their net to apprehend all those brought to India illegally by Parvez. The suspects, during questioning, revealed that several Pakistani nationals are living under fake names and documents in Delhi, Maharashtra, Assam, Jharkhand, Odisha, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. “This matter has to be dealt with great sensitivity as it concerns national security. Those arrested are being questioned and information from them is being used to crack this network that has been in place for decades," said a senior officer to News18.
PARVEZ, HIS NETWORK OVER 14 YEARS
Parvez, a native of Uttar Pradesh’s Azamgarh, assisted these Pakistani nationals and MFI sympathisers flee Pakistan, where they feared persecution. His connection with the MFI began in 2007 when 63 members of the organisation protested in New Delhi by burning their Pakistani passports, seeking refuge in India. One of the protesters was a woman who later married Parvez. While others were granted refugee status and moved to European countries, Parvez’s wife remained in India after their marriage. She now resides in Delhi and reports weekly to the Delhi Special Branch as required by her legal status.
Parvez, also an MFI sympathiser, helped those arrested obtain false names, passports, Aadhaar cards and other Indian documentation, using funds from the foundation to support the propagation of their beliefs. It is said that it was his idea to provide Hindu names, especially with the surname Sharma, to the illegal immigrants he smuggled into the country, to help them avoid detection by intelligence agencies or the police.
A local officer involved in the case said they aim to track and arrest every illegal Pakistani national whom Parvez has brought into India over the past 14 years.
Parvez’s primary task was to help MFI members establish “new fake lives" and “self-sustaining economic models". He was also responsible for arranging their covert entry into the country, planning their travel routes via Bangladesh, and settling them under false Hindu names to keep them under the radar.
A senior police official working on the case told News18 that Parvez had created a well-organised system for the illegal Pakistani nationals he brought to India, ensuring they were not entirely dependent on the Mehdi Foundation for financial support.
THE ‘ILLEGAL SHARMAS’
In the case of the arrests in Jigani, on the outskirts of Bengaluru, Rashid Ali Siddiqui, 48, and his wife Ayesha, 38, originally from Peshawar in Pakistan, were provided seed money by Parvez to fund their businesses and daily expenses. They set up an engine oil business and a cloud kitchen serving home-cooked biryani in the area. Parvez initially funded their accommodation, but encouraged them to become self-reliant to avoid detection by the authorities.
According to the police, the couple’s bank accounts in Bengaluru were opened under the names Ram Babu Sharma and Rani Sharma, based on the fake Aadhaar cards that Parvez had provided. Ayesha used the name Asha Sharma, while her parents, Hanif Mohammed and Rubina, adopted the names Ram Baba Sharma, 73, and Rani Sharma, 61, respectively.
Parvez helped the Siddiqui family travel from Pakistan to Bangladesh on valid visas in 2011. He then brought them illegally into India via Malda in 2014. The family assumed their new names and lived in Delhi for four years before Parvez helped them establish a life in Bengaluru in 2018, said a senior police official.
“During our raid, they initially denied any connection to any groups, claiming to be Hindus. However, when we confronted them with a Mehdi Foundation International poster found in their home, they confessed to being Pakistanis brought in illegally," said another officer involved in the case.
The family had been living in Jigani since 2018 under the assumed name of Shankar Sharma and family, maintaining a low profile. Siddiqui, an MFI sympathiser, was also a preacher on Alra TV, a YouTube channel promoting Gohar Shahi’s teachings. Siddiqui reportedly had links to Yunus AlGohar, a spiritual leader associated with MFI and was brought to Bengaluru by Parvez with the help of Wasim and Altaf, two others involved in the network. Both are now in the custody of the Tamil Nadu Police.
When asked why they picked Bengaluru, a senior official told News18, “This is because in big cities one can stay under the radar and go unnoticed. They chose a place like Jigani which is not really in the city purview, but with accessibility to it as well."
HOW THE RACKET WAS UNEARTHED
The racket first came to light in Chennai when a group of three — Mohammed Yasin (Karthik Sharma), his wife Zainab Noor (Neha Sharma), Altab Ahmed, and his wife Fathima Gohar (Nisha) — was caught by immigration officials upon landing from Dhaka by the Chennai immigration officials.
Acting on suspicion, the police detained them and on interrogation, it was found that their passports and Aadhaar cards were fake. Further questioning led them to a Karnataka link — Altab Ahmed who hailed from Davangere.
Altab promised the MFI members fake identities to live in India and brought them into the country in 2020. When they were caught, there were allegedly returning from Bangladesh after attending a world religious conference of the MFI in Dhaka, said highly placed sources.
GENESIS OF MEHDI FOUNDATION
Founded in the 1970s in Pakistan, the Mehdi Foundation International (MFI), initially called the Messiah Foundation, was named after its founder, Riaz Gohar Shahi. The foundation is known for promoting the message of the awaited Messiah (Imam Mehdi) and claims to spread interfaith harmony, divine love and spiritual healing through Sufi teachings.
The MFI has been banned in Pakistan, where its teachings are considered heretical by Islamic clerics, who issued fatwas against Gohar Shahi. Many followers have since been persecuted, prompting some to flee to countries such as Bangladesh and India.
In 2007, 63 Pakistani MFI members protested in front of the Pakistan Embassy in New Delhi, burning their passports. After initially being arrested, they were granted refugee status by the Indian government in 2011 and later resettled in Canada, the USA, and Europe. The foundation has since expanded globally, with centres in the UK, USA, India, Pakistan and Australia.
It is learnt that if any of the accused in Bengaluru who have been arrested are found to have no criminal background or cases against them, the police department may initiate deportation of these individuals.
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