Four members of a Bengali Muslim family in Murshidabad, West Bengal, have been missing for around 40 days after plainclothes police personnel allegedly picked them up from their home, according to their family.
According to Scroll, police have claimed that the four were Bangladeshi nationals and were handed over to the Border Security Force (BSF) before being sent to Bangladesh. The family and human rights organisation Banglar Manabadhikar Suraksha Mancha, or MASUM, have disputed the claim, citing the family’s presence on electoral rolls and other Indian documents.
Dablu Sheikh, 60, and his three sons, Kayem Sheikh, 29, Rajaul Sheikh, 20, and Asmaul Sheikh, 16, were picked up from their home in Baliaghati village, according to Dablu’s wife, Jahanara Bibi.
Bibi said the incident took place either on the night of August 13 or August 14, although MASUM said the exact date could not be independently confirmed.
Bibi said she has received no information about the whereabouts of her husband and sons since they were taken away. She also rejected allegations that they were Bangladeshi nationals.
“Police asked us whether we have any Bangladeshi document,” Bibi said. “We told them we do not know where Bangladesh is. We have not seen Bangladesh.”
Avijit Basu Mallick, inspector in charge of Suti police station, however, told Scroll that the four were Bangladeshi nationals and “have been deported to Bangladesh”.
“The family can speak lies,” Mallick said. “They are Bangladeshi.”
Mallick said the four were detained under a Union Home Ministry circular issued in May 2025 and taken to the Jangipur holding centre. He said there was no need to register a case under the Foreigners Act.
Scroll said it could not independently verify whether the BSF had deported the four to Bangladesh.
Dablu and his son Kayem were listed on West Bengal’s electoral rolls following the state’s special intensive revision exercise and voted in the 2026 Assembly elections, according to Scroll, which said it had verified their names.
Dablu’s father, Sk Samjani, was also listed as a voter in the Suti Assembly constituency in 1966 and 1995.
MASUM said the four family members also have Aadhaar cards, ration cards and other documents related to their residence in India.
In a letter to the West Bengal home secretary, MASUM raised concerns over what it described as the “arbitrary arrest, illegal detention, unlawful branding as ‘Bangladeshi’ and alleged push-back” of the family.
The organisation called for an independent verification of their citizenship status, saying their electoral records and other documents raised questions about the claim that they were foreign nationals.
The case comes as Indian authorities step up efforts to identify suspected undocumented migrants from Bangladesh and Myanmar.
In May 2025, the Union Home Ministry directed states and Union territories to verify the credentials of people suspected of being undocumented migrants. The West Bengal government subsequently announced plans to establish holding centres for alleged undocumented migrants under a “detect, delete, deport” policy.
Scroll has reported several cases of Bengali-speaking people, mostly Muslims, being detained and accused of being Bangladeshi nationals. It has also reported cases in which people allegedly sent to Bangladesh were later identified as Indian citizens and returned.
The citizenship status of Dablu and his three sons has not been independently established in the available reporting, while the police claim that they were deported to Bangladesh also remains unverified.