A Bangladeshi national who had been living in a village in South Dinajpur for almost a year was arrested by police on Saturday night.

The person who sheltered him has also been arrested. Police officers have initiated a probe to discover the Bangladeshi’s intentions.

Sources said a team from Kumarganj police station raided Dangarhat, a village in Kumarganj block, and nabbed Rabiul Islam. Khailrul Mondal, in whose house Islam was living, was taken intocustody too.

According to police sources, Islam had managed to make a fake Aadhar card with a local address.

“He had a photo identity card of Bangladesh. In Kumarganj, he had made a fake Aadhar card and was staying there for almost a year, while concealing his original identity,” said a source.

Sariful Rahaman, a resident of Kumarganj, said Islam had approached him a few months back for renting a place.

“He had showed me his Aadhar card then. I checked the address and found that he did not stay there. That is why I didn’t rent my house to him. Now that he has been arrested, I learned he is Bangladeshi. So far we know, he used to work as a mason,”said Rahaman.

Locals said that Islam had travelled to several places across India.

Khaleda Bibi, Khairul’s daughter, however, claimed that her father had been wrongly implicated in the case.

“Yesterday night, some policemen came and arrested my father. We did not shelter any Bangladeshi and don’t know why he was arrested,” she said.

Chinmay Mitta, the superintendent of police of Dakshin Dinajpur, confirmed the arrests. “Two persons, including a Bangladeshi, have been arrested. Our officers are probing the case,” he said.

The Balurghat court ordered five days of police custody for the duo on Monday.