In August last year, Rafikul Biswas was picked up from his home in Bengaluru, and accused of being an undocumented migrant from Bangladesh.Biswas, who is originally from Nadia district in Bengal, spent four months in a detention centre in the city, as his family members and lawyers scrambled to get him out.Since May last year, several Bengali Muslims have been picked up in states ruled by the Bharatiya Janata Party, falsely accused of being Bangladeshis and, in several cases, forcibly expelled from Indian territory.In Biswas’s case, it was the Congress-ruled government in Karnataka that had acted in a similar fashion.It took a year-long legal battle for Biswas to be set free, despite the fact that he owned a passport. In the time he spent in the detention centre, he suffered two cardiac episodes, Biswas told Scroll.On August 4, the Karnataka High Court declared the 32-year-old an Indian and said that his family had been residing in India for “generations”.But his ordeal was not yet over.Four days later, on August 8, the police landed up at Biswas’s home again at 6 in the morning and rounded him up along with his wife.They were among about 3,000 Bengali workers picked up by the Bengaluru City Police as part of a special drive, called ‘Operation Mukta’, to identify suspected undocumented immigrants living in the city.The police raided 90 locations, many of which are home to Bengali speakers who pick up and segregate the tonnes of garbage and waste that Bengaluru produces every day.“Everyone was picked up and accused of being Bangladeshi,” Biswas said. “In my locality, about 230 people were taken to the police station despite being Indian citizens.” Biswas said the police refused to even see the High Court order declaring him an Indian.Sheikh Kader, a 56-year-old of Nadia district of Bengal, who has been living in Bengaluru for the last 21 years, said he was picked up from a road near his home by a group of policemen on the morning of August 8.“I have a long beard and I wear a lungi,” he told Scroll. “They looked at me and said, ‘Aap pura Bangladeshi hai.’” You are definitely a Bangladeshi.Kader added: “The police did not check any documents before detaining me.”Hundreds of workers were held for 12-14 hours in detention centres, marriage halls and hotels and then finally let go. Of the 3,000 picked up, only 105 were found to be undocumented migrants from Bangladesh, The Times of India reported.Anguri Khatun, Rafikul Biswas's wife. Credit: Rokibuz Zaman The mass detention has been criticised by activists as unprecedented for Karnataka.Hundreds of Indian citizens were harassed in the drive, Avisikta (June), a Bengaluru-based human rights activist who works with displaced and migrant populations, told Scroll.“There is anyway widespread ethno-racial hate speech in Karnataka against Bengali workers,” Avisikta said. “Every Bengali-speaking informal worker is suspected of being Bangladeshi. This right-wing rhetoric appears to have pushed the Congress to crack down instead of following constitutional provisions.”Biswas, who has been living in Bengaluru for over 12 years, too, said he was disappointed.“Sarkar Congress er, kintu byabohaar BJPir,” Biswas said. It is a Congress government here, but it behaves like the BJP.Scroll emailed and called the Bengaluru police commissioner and the Karnataka home minister Priyank Kharge, asking about the rationale behind the drive and allegations of harassment of Indian citizens. The story will be updated if they reply.Sheikh Kader, a 56-year-old from Nadia district of Bengal, said he was picked up from a road near his home by a group of policemen on the morning of August 8. Credit: Rokibuz Zaman.The first detentionBiswas lives in a shanty in Somasundarpalya with his 30-year-old wife Anguri Khatun Biswas and their 11- year-old daughter. Before he was picked up last year, he was employed as a driver at a private school. He also ran a scrap business.On the evening of August 28, 2025, personnel from the Bandepalya police station knocked at his door and took him away.A day later, the Foreigners Regional Registration Office passed an order directing that Biswas be put in a detention centre.“I was not given any notice nor was I initially told the reason for my confinement,” Biswas told Scroll.Later, the police showed him purported Bangladeshi identity documents that proved he was a citizen of that country, Biswas said.His family and friends went to the police with a folder of documents – Biswas’s passport, his school certificate, a voter identity card and an electoral roll featuring his name, his Aadhar card, and a gram panchayat certificate.Biswas and his wife Anguri Khatun Biswas said they refused to check the papers. “We were told these are fake documents,” Anguri Khatun said.Two days later, the police in Biswas’s native district, Nadia, carried out an enquiry and submitted a report to the FRRO, confirming that Biswas is an Indian citizen and a permanent resident of Dhananjoypur village. However, he was not released.The FRRO maintained that he was detained on the basis of information from intelligence agencies as well as documentary evidence – a national ID card from Bangladesh as well as a birth certificate issued by the country.Biswas’s advocate Clifton D Rozario argued that the two alleged Bangladeshi documents were fake and that the FRRO had issued an order without following due process. “The authorities made no efforts to verify the veracity of these documents,” he said. “A person's citizenship cannot be challenged in such a cavalier fashion.”Eventually, Biswas’s wife challenged the detention order by FRRO in the Karnataka High Court.On August 4, the High Court of Karnataka declared him Indian, saying that the voter card issued to him after the recent Special Intensive Revision in West Bengal was “genuine” and that his family had been residing in India for “generations”.“The Karnataka High court declared me Indian,” Biswas said. “But where is the justice? Where did the police get these two fake Bangladeshi documents to frame me? I need an answer.”Abul Kalam Azad, a 42-year-old resident of Murshidabad who came to the city for his niece’s treatment, said he was detained for close to a day. Credit: Rokibuz Zaman.‘Beaten up, harassed’Several Bengali workers, who were raided and detained in this year’s drive, also questioned the police action against them.Abul Kalam Azad, a 42-year-old resident of Murshidabad who came to the city three months ago for his niece’s treatment, said he was detained for close to a day.“There was no FIR against me or any complaint. But I had to go to the FRRO the next day and give my biometrics because they suspected I am Bangladeshi,” he said.Azad said that he never expected a Congress government would doubt his citizenship. “This is not done,” he said.Aijual Sheikh, a 47-year-old scrap dealer in Electronic City, said several of his workers, who segregate garbage, were accosted and beaten up in a raid on August 8.“The police can check our documents,” Sheikh said. “But they can’t treat us like thieves and criminals. We are Indians, not Bangladeshis.”‘Collateral damage’Activists in Bengaluru pointed out that the situation is complicated by the presence of undocumented Bangladeshi migrants in the city, many of whom also work in the waste segregation sector. “They are often employed at lesser wages than workers from West Bengal and Assam and exploited,” said R Kaleem Ullah, a member of the All India Shramik Swaraj Kendra who has been working with Bengali Muslims in the city for decades.Activists alleged that the presence of Bangladeshis is not hidden from the police or political parties.“The police are fully aware of which is a Bangladeshi settlement and which is inhabited by Indian Bengali workers,” said Kaleem Ullah.The Congress government, he said, was forced to launch the drive against illegal migrants because of pressure from right-wing activists in Bengaluru. In the run-up to the police action, several Hindutva activists had gone around confronting and interrogating migrant workers, accusing them of being undocumented Bangladeshi immigrants, and posted videos.“The Congress came under pressure and now poor migrant workers are getting harassed,” Kaleem Ullah said.Indian Bengali Muslims, Avisikta said, have ended up becoming “collateral damage”. A settlement of waste workers in Hebbal, north Bangalore. Credit: Rokibuz Zaman.‘Solitary confinement’The citizenship trial has set back Rafikul Biswas by many years, he said.He lost his job as a school driver. His scrap godown and the shanty he was living in were attacked and set on fire in April. He had to take a loan from a moneylender in Bengal to pay his daughter’s school fees.He alleged that he was kept in solitary confinement at the detention centre, which affected his health. “I did not see the sun for months. Each hour felt like a year.”Biswas said he was perturbed that his nationality was questioned by the Congress government because he is a Bengali Muslim. “If I get an opportunity, I will question Rahul Gandhi. What is the difference between you and the BJP?”