<p>Two policemen lathi-charged slum dwellers living in Hulimangala near Electronics City on Saturday, accusing them of being “illegal’ Bangladeshi immigrants and asking them to vacate.</p>.<p>The cops snapped power and water supply lines, got an earthmover to dig a part of the approach road and tore Aadhaar and other documents that purportedly showed that the residents are from West Bengal. The cops even broke into the slum dwellers’ homes and smashed utensils.</p>.<p>They also threatened to set the slums on fire but left after the residents claimed they bribed them. </p>.<p>Several officers, including Additional Superintendent of Police (Bengaluru district) Lakshmi Ganesh K, Hebbagodi police inspector S R Jagadish and sub-inspector Girish flatly denied the incident.</p>.<p>However, multiple residents and the owners of the land parcel where the shanties are located confirmed that two constables arrived there around 11.30 am on Saturday and started beating up the residents. CCTV footage shows a policeman caning one of the residents.</p>.<p>The residents even identified one of the constables as Viresh. DH contacted Viresh but he hung up when asked to comment. Syed Ilyas, a local BJP worker who is one of the owners of the three-acre land parcel located in Hulimangala near Electronics City, denied that the residents were Bangladeshis. He said his family had rented the land to the residents, who mainly work as plastic sorters, after checking their IDs and keeping the local police in the loop.</p>.<p>His brother-in-law and co-owner Mohammed Shafiullah said around 150 people had been living in the slum since 2014. They were brought in there by scrap contractors and given land to build sheds. “These people are from West Bengal. Until about a month ago, there were no complaints,” he told DH. “There are both Hindus and Muslims here. They live peacefully.”</p>.<p>Shafiullah added that he knew constable Viresh well as he had seen him at the Hebbagodi police station Azharul Shaikh, who runs a plastic-manufacturing unit at the place, said most of the residents were from Nadia and Murshidabad districts of West Bengal.</p>.<p>“All our papers are in order. We even got the police station back home to send an e-mail to the police here to confirm our bona fides,” he said. R Kaleem Ullah, an activist with the Swaraj India party who visited the slum, said the police action has frightened the residents.</p>.<p>Sources in the know said senior police officers had pulled up the constables for the high-handed action while denying the incident in public. Speaking to DH, Hebbadi police inspector Jagadish said it was not their practice to break into migrant workers’ homes and seek identification. “We act against illegal immigrants only on orders from the FRRO (Foreigners’ Regional Registration Office), which gives us a list of overstaying foreigners. We round up the people concerned and produce them before the FRRO,” he added.</p>
<p>Two policemen lathi-charged slum dwellers living in Hulimangala near Electronics City on Saturday, accusing them of being “illegal’ Bangladeshi immigrants and asking them to vacate.</p>.<p>The cops snapped power and water supply lines, got an earthmover to dig a part of the approach road and tore Aadhaar and other documents that purportedly showed that the residents are from West Bengal. The cops even broke into the slum dwellers’ homes and smashed utensils.</p>.<p>They also threatened to set the slums on fire but left after the residents claimed they bribed them. </p>.<p>Several officers, including Additional Superintendent of Police (Bengaluru district) Lakshmi Ganesh K, Hebbagodi police inspector S R Jagadish and sub-inspector Girish flatly denied the incident.</p>.<p>However, multiple residents and the owners of the land parcel where the shanties are located confirmed that two constables arrived there around 11.30 am on Saturday and started beating up the residents. CCTV footage shows a policeman caning one of the residents.</p>.<p>The residents even identified one of the constables as Viresh. DH contacted Viresh but he hung up when asked to comment. Syed Ilyas, a local BJP worker who is one of the owners of the three-acre land parcel located in Hulimangala near Electronics City, denied that the residents were Bangladeshis. He said his family had rented the land to the residents, who mainly work as plastic sorters, after checking their IDs and keeping the local police in the loop.</p>.<p>His brother-in-law and co-owner Mohammed Shafiullah said around 150 people had been living in the slum since 2014. They were brought in there by scrap contractors and given land to build sheds. “These people are from West Bengal. Until about a month ago, there were no complaints,” he told DH. “There are both Hindus and Muslims here. They live peacefully.”</p>.<p>Shafiullah added that he knew constable Viresh well as he had seen him at the Hebbagodi police station Azharul Shaikh, who runs a plastic-manufacturing unit at the place, said most of the residents were from Nadia and Murshidabad districts of West Bengal.</p>.<p>“All our papers are in order. We even got the police station back home to send an e-mail to the police here to confirm our bona fides,” he said. R Kaleem Ullah, an activist with the Swaraj India party who visited the slum, said the police action has frightened the residents.</p>.<p>Sources in the know said senior police officers had pulled up the constables for the high-handed action while denying the incident in public. Speaking to DH, Hebbadi police inspector Jagadish said it was not their practice to break into migrant workers’ homes and seek identification. “We act against illegal immigrants only on orders from the FRRO (Foreigners’ Regional Registration Office), which gives us a list of overstaying foreigners. We round up the people concerned and produce them before the FRRO,” he added.</p>