Rajkot Police Detain Pakistani Family Living Illegally In Lodhika For 25 Years

Rajkot: As part of an ongoing statewide crackdown on undocumented foreign nationals, Rajkot police arrested a Pakistani family that had been living illegally in Lodhika taluka for over two decades. The detained individuals include a 50-year-old woman, her 29-year-old son, and her two-year-old grandson, all confirmed to be Pakistani citizens lacking valid Indian documentation.

The arrest came following a tip-off, prompting Rajkot Rural LCB, the district police, the Rural SOG, and Rajkot Range officials to investigate suspected illegal settlements in Lodhika taluka. Authorities were stunned to discover that the family had been residing in the village since the late 1990s without legal status.

Investigations revealed that Rizwanaben Munafbhai Tatariya was born in Karachi in 1975 and married Munafbhai Tatariya of Rajkot in 1992, after he traveled to Pakistan for work. The couple had a son, Zeeshan, in Pakistan. In 1994, Munafbhai returned to India, and five years later, Rizwanaben and Zeeshan followed him using a joint Pakistani passport. They overstayed their visas and remained in India illegally ever since.

Further complicating matters, Zeeshan married an Indian woman in 2021, and they had a child the following year. Senior police officials are currently interrogating the family while awaiting directives from higher authorities to determine the next legal steps.

In a related operation, police also detained six Bangladeshi nationals during coordinated raids in areas such as Bhagwatipara, Morbi Road, Ramnathpara, and Jungleshwar. These arrests bring the total number of illegal Bangladeshi residents apprehended in Rajkot to 21, indicating a broader issue of undocumented immigration in the region.