Four members of a Bengali Muslim family from Murshidabad have been missing for around 40 days after they were picked up from their home by plainclothes police personnel, their family said.
According to Scroll, the police have claimed that the four were Bangladeshi nationals and were handed over to the Border Security Force before being sent to Bangladesh. However, the family and a human rights organisation have questioned the claim, pointing to 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.
The family said the incident took place either on the night of August 13 or August 14. Human rights organisation Banglar Manabadhikar Suraksha Mancha, also known as MASUM, said the exact date could not be confirmed by Bibi.
Family Says It Has Received No Information
Bibi said she has not received information about the whereabouts of her husband and sons since they were taken away.
She also rejected the allegation that the family members 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 were sent to the Jangipur holding centre. He also said there was no need to register a case under the Foreigners Act.
Scroll said it could not independently confirm whether the Border Security Force had deported the four to Bangladesh.
Electoral Records Raise Questions
Dablu Sheikh and his son Kayem Sheikh were listed on West Bengal’s electoral rolls after the state’s special intensive revision exercise and voted in the 2026 Assembly elections, according to Scroll, which said it verified their names.
Dablu’s father, Sk Samjani, was also listed as a voter in the Suti Assembly constituency in 1966 and 1995.
MASUM has also said that the four family members possess Aadhaar cards, ration cards and other residence related documents.
In a letter to the West Bengal home secretary, the organisation raised concerns over what it described as the “arbitrary arrest, illegal detention, unlawful branding as ‘Bangladeshi’ and alleged push-back” of the family.
MASUM said the electoral records and other documents raised questions about the official claim that the family members were foreign nationals. It called for an independent verification of their citizenship status.
Bengal Detentions
The case comes amid a wider government drive 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 as part of 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 where people allegedly sent to Bangladesh were later found to be Indian citizens and returned.
The citizenship status of Dablu Sheikh and his three sons has not been independently established in the available reporting. The West Bengal Police’s claim that they were deported to Bangladesh also remains unverified.
