At first glance, it is difficult to fathom how a SIM card from this village in West Bengal’s Nadia district, near the border with Bangladesh, could find its way to the man accused of stabbing actor Saif Ali Khan.
Villagers, though, don’t find it as surprising. This is because a large number of youths from Bara Andulia are employed in Mumbai’s hotels and bars, which is also where the accused, Shariful Islam, found work.
Speaking to The Indian Express, his father Md Ruhul Amin Fakir had said on Wednesday that Shariful illegally entered India through a middleman last year, worked in a hotel in West Bengal for a month, and then proceeded to Mumbai.
The Mumbai police probe has found that he was using a SIM card registered under the name of one Khukumoni Jahangir, with a listed address of Bara Andulia village.
“We have no specific input from Mumbai on this so far. Names of areas like Bara Andulia and Chapra have cropped up (during the probe). Basically, a large number of residents of these areas work as labourers in Mumbai. Apart from the fact that the accused caught in the case was Bangladeshi, we have no input as such,“ said K Amarnath, the superintendent of Nadia district.
Jehangir Mondol, the gram panchayat member, also said they have no knowledge of the village name coming up during the probe. He too said it was common knowledge that many youths from the area go to Mumbai in search of work.
“This is a small, peaceful village. I don’t know how the SIM card reached Mumbai,” he said.
The village, situated about 2 kilometres from the Bangladesh border, depends on farming jute and other crops, but youths often venture out in search of better opportunities.
In the village, when asked about the name that has cropped up in the police probe, residents pointed to one Khukumoni, wife of Jehangir Sheikh, who died five years ago. Speaking to The Indian Express, she said she had been using her husband’s cell phone after his death, but lost it last year in Krishnanagar town. “I don’t know anything else about the phone or the SIM card,” she said.
Her husband’s family corroborated this – she left with her children after Jehangir’s death, and took his phone with her.
No one has contacted her or Jehangir’s families so far. “No one has come to enquire about any of this,” said Raju Khalifa, a Gram Panchayat member.