A total of 182 foreign nationals were booked from 2019 to 2021 for enteringMaharashtraillegally with forged Indian passports and procuring help from touts to live in the country. Maharashtra tops the list of such states, accounting for over 40% of the country’s cases (448).
The offence is under the Indian Passport Act, with the next state on the list being Tripura (122), followed by Nadu (46), West Bengal (17) and Karnataka (14). The data was recently released by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB).
However, Maharashtra is fourth among states when it comes to the number of those booked under the Foreigners Act, with 61 cases from 2019 to 2021. West Bengal tops the list with 2,572 cases, Karnataka is a distant second with 204 cases and Tamil Nadu third with 63. After Maharashtra comes Tripura, which is at fifth place with 11 cases.
Also, as per the NCRB report (for the same three-year duration), the maximum number of persons arrested or apprehended at the country’s borders for trying to illegally enter India were from Bangladesh (4,149) followed by Pakistan (137).