'Suspicious car' led cops to the Pakistanis

It was during the investigation of a break-in that police stumbled upon three Pakistanis illegally staying in Bengaluru.

The homicide and burglary squad of the Central Crime Branch (CCB) was investigating a break-in when it found out that a blue Maruti Swift was always parked outside a house in Kumaraswamy Layout, south Bengaluru. The sleuths suspected it to be a stolen vehicle. The CCB sleuths kept a watch on the car bearing a Tamil Nadu registration number (TN 67/AY 1569) and found out that a man named Mohammad Shihab drove it.

On Monday, the sleuths picked him up for questioning. He told them that the car belongs to one of his friends, Har-iprasad, who had given it as security against a loan he had taken from him. The sleuths then asked Shihab how did he get so much money. He said he had worked in Qatar.

As police kept digging, they learnt that Shihab was living with three Pakistanis whom he had met in Qatar. The sleuths became suspicious and started enquiring about the Pakistanis. They soon found out that Shihab had come to Bengaluru in 2008 at the age of 21 and lived here till 2012 when he went to Qatar to work there. But when he came back in September 2016, three people, including two women, accompanied him.

When questioned by police, the Pakistanis claimed they were Marwari Muslims. Police then got a few Marwari Muslims to interact with them who confirmed  that the Marwari dialect these people spoke was native to Pakistan.

Police raided their house in Kumaraswamy Layout on Wednesday night and found three Pakistani passports that were not stamped in India.

“We are verifying the Pakistanis’ claim as well as that of Shihab that they came to India to find love. Right now, we don’t believe them. We are investigating if their stay in Bengaluru had any ulterior motive,” S Ravi, Additional Commissioner of Police (Crime), said.