Why a small Indian town is attracting illegal immigrants

Nobody at Chinnakarunaipalayam in Tirupur district ever doubted the nativity of 23-year-old Jakir Hussain who was living in a rented house there for the past six months. He was earnest at his work in a mid-sized textile unit in the locality and his employers had no reason to suspect him when he identified himself as a Bengali. He had submitted a copy of his Aadhaar card. But he largely restricted his interactions to a small bunch of people, who too identified as natives of West Bengal.


All this changed on September 7 when police arrested Jakir Hussain and seven of his friends. That’s when his colleagues and his employer realised that they were not Bengalis, but Bangladeshis with fake Aadhaar cards.