Earlier this month, Mumbai Police had arrested a man named Rubel Sheikh on suspicion of being an illegal immigrant from Bangladesh who has turned out to be a local BJP leader.
The Mumbai police said Sheikh was arrested for living in India with forged documents and is an alleged Bangladeshi national.
However, on Saturday, a picture of Sheikh with BJP MP Gopal Shetty surfaced on social media. The picture identified him as the party's north Mumbai minority cell chief.
Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh on Saturday said that Sheikh, an office-bearer of the BJP is a Bangladeshi and had been staying in the country with fake documents.
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He said Rubel Jonu Sheikh, head of the BJP's north Mumbai minority cell, had obtained an Aadhaar card and PAN card but the Mumbai police had found that the 24 North Parganas address and school details in West Bengal he had furnished was fake.
"I wonder how the BJP made him an office-bearer without checking his documents or verifying his credentials," Deshmukh said.
Meanwhile, BJP vice president Chitra Wagh said her party would not defend any wrongdoing, if any, on the part of Shaikh but added the MVA government must show "similar enthusiasm" to find out similar cases in the NCP, Congress etc.
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Congress too did not miss the opportunity to take a dig at BJP.
"Has Amit Shah (Union Home Minister) made special provisions for BJP members in the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA)?" Congress spokesperson Sachin Sawant tweeted on Saturday.
(With PTI inputs.)
