Kirit Somaiya, When Will You Meet the Bangladeshis in Nashik?
By – Waseem Raza Khan (Chief Editor)
In December, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) raided accounts at the Nashik Merchant Co-op Bank in connection with a ₹1200 crore money laundering case linked to Malegaon. These accounts were opened in the names of ordinary laborers or unemployed individuals, but the ED found a sudden discrepancy of nearly ₹800 crore in them. The names of some companies were also revealed, through whose accounts these funds were transferred to people’s accounts.
Following this incident, Kirit Somaiya, the former MP who lost the elections for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), targeted Malegaon. Or, one could say that the BJP assigned Somaiya a specific task: if you have nothing else to do, keep focusing on Malegaon to prevent any more videos from going viral. This would keep him busy and provide the BJP with opportunities to create communal tension. This also gave the politically “unemployed” Kirit Somaiya a chance to stay relevant in politics, and BJP supporters began to forget his old viral video where he was shown enduring significant pain.
Somaiya’s Focus on Malegaon: ‘Catch the Bangladeshis’
Using the issue of funds in the bank as a pretext, Somaiya, at his party’s behest, turned his attention to a matter that a former Malegaon MLA had hinted at a few years ago: that he would settle 10,000 Rohingyas in Malegaon. With this, Kirit Somaiya found a platform for his work, which he began by echoing the demand of local BJP workers to apprehend Bangladeshis living in Malegaon. Somaiya visited Malegaon multiple times, preparing thousands of pages of reports, and continues to do so even today, but he has yet to catch a single Bangladeshi. When he found nothing else, he made an issue out of discrepancies in documents and had municipal corporation employees and local citizens arrested. Now the difficulty is that neither Kirit Somaiya nor the BJP can find any Bangladeshis. Attempts are now only being made to tarnish Malegaon’s image over documentary irregularities, even though legal experts know very well that these cases are not that serious, and the arrested individuals could be released through legal maneuvers. However, this is not happening because Kirit Somaiya seems to hold the remote control of local politics. By forming committees and feigning legal battles, the public is merely being kept in the dark.
Why Somaiya Ignores Bangladeshis Caught in Nashik
If this isn’t the case, then why don’t Kirit Babu see the Bangladeshis caught in Nashik? Somaiya should meet the Bangladeshis apprehended in Nashik. Recently, some laborers were found working at a construction site in Nashik. Subsequently, a woman fell in love with a young man from Nashik via Facebook and made Nashik her in-laws’ home. After that, on Monday, four more women were caught in Nashik itself. In total, 12 Bangladeshis have been found in Nashik, but Kirit Somaiya has no BJP orders to look towards Nashik. This is because all the BJP MLAs are here, and if they face trouble, the BJP’s election prospects could be jeopardized, as the Maha Vikas Aghadi is also a strong contender here. Furthermore, the BJP is now eyeing the local municipal corporation. In such a situation, what can poor Kirit Somaiya do? Even if hundreds of Bangladeshis are found in Nashik, they don’t fall under Somaiya’s jurisdiction; he has only been assigned the task of keeping an eye on Malegaon.
‘Donkey Route’ Infiltration Exposed in Nashik:
In Nashik, Crime Branch Unit One and Ambad Police jointly raided the Khaire Mala area of Amrutdham. During the raid, Maisha Habib Sheikh (22), Nishan Mihir Sheikh (21), Jhumoor Hasan Sheikh (33), and Rehana Jalil Gazi (30, all residents of Bangladesh) were taken into custody along with Navjeet Bhavan Das (38, resident of Amrutdham). Navjeet had allowed these four women to reside in his room. Investigations revealed that suspected Jagdish Mistri (resident of Surat) and two other Bangladeshi individuals had brought these four women to Nashik.
On February 6, 2025, at a construction site in Adgaon Shivar, police officers and personnel, disguised, arrested eight Bangladeshi nationals from a crowd of 600 laborers. The arrested suspects included Suman Gazi (27), Abdullah Mandal (20), Shaheen Mandal (23), Lasel Shantar (23), Asad Mullah (30), Alim Mandal (32), Al-Amin Sheikh (22), and Mohsin Mullah (22). Suspect Suman Gazi had been living in India for the past 12 years, and other suspects came to India through his contacts. All of them had created fake documents from an Aadhaar center in Narayan village. All are currently in jail.
Illegal Infiltration Due to Social Media Love:
On June 11, 2025, a case was registered at the Mumbai Naka Police Station against a young woman who entered India through a secret route from Bangladesh to reach Mumbai and Nashik due to a social media relationship, and her boyfriend from Nashik. The suspects were identified as Suraiya Akhtar alias Shreya Kedare (age 28, resident of Govind Nagar, originally from Jessore, Bangladesh) and Govind Nandu Kedare (resident of Anmol Residency, Govind Nagar, originally from Lasalgaon). Investigations revealed that Suraiya had illegally entered India 5-6 times, for which she spent five, eight, ten, twelve, and eighteen thousand rupees respectively.
Four More Bangladeshi Women Detained:
On July 20, 2025, Crime Branch Unit One and Ambad Police jointly raided the Khaire Mala area under the jurisdiction of Panchavati Police Station in Amrutdham. During this operation, Maisha Habib Sheikh (age 22), Nishan Mihir Sheikh (21), Jhumoor Hasan Sheikh (33), and Rehana Jalil Gazi (30), along with Navjeet Bhavan Das (38, resident of Amrutdham), were taken into custody. Navjeet had allowed all four women to reside in his room. Additionally, it was revealed that suspected Jagdish Mistri (resident of Sootar) and two Bangladeshi individuals had brought these four women to Nashik.
