BSF nabs 21-year-old Pak man crossing Rajasthan border on way to meet Mumbai girl

MUMBAI: In what could possibly be one of the most riveting stories of love in the time of Corona in the recent past, a Pakistan man who fell for a college girl in Mumbai through social media sneaked through the border fence at Anupgarh sector in Rajasthan’s Sri Ganganagar district on December 4, and planned to walk over 1,300 km to reach Mumbai to meet the girl.
Not only did the man put the police and several government agencies in a fix, but was lucky to not get shot by the Border Security Force (BSF).
A resident of Bahawalpur district in Punjab-Pakistan — which is 40km away from the border — Mohammad Amir (21) was caught by the BSF and is currently in judicial custody.
Two police constables from Sri Ganganagar district reached their police station in Rajasthan on Monday and submitted a report after verifying Amir’s claim with the statement of the 20-year-old girl, a resident of Kandivli, who confirmed that they were in love and planned to marry.
Officials at Anupgarh police station in Rajasthan said over time, the two became good friends, exchanged numbers, and decided to get married. Amir told the joint interrogation committee (JIC) officials that he did apply for an Indian visa to travel to Mumbai but the request was denied by the Indian authorities. “On being denied a visa, he planned to cross the borderfence to meet the girl. He was unsure how to reach Mumbai and planned to walk all the way to meet the woman. To verify his claim, a team was sent to Mumbai to locate the girl and it confirmed his claims,” Sri Ganganagar superintendent of police (SP) Anand Sharma told TOI.
A source from Mumbai police said that the two Rajasthan cops, along with their counterpart at Sakinaka and technical and human intelligence, took almost 24 hours to locate the girl’s new address that falls under the jurisdiction of Kandivli police.
The two constables from Rajasthan reached Mumbai on Saturday and took the help of Sakinaka police to track the girl.
“They, however, failed to locate the girl at the address that Amir provided to us. They became friends during the lockdown after they met on Facebook, and after 10 months of regular chatting on social media, he expressed his desire to meet her and she agreed to his decision. He had planned to walk all the way to Mumbai to meet the girl as he was carrying only a small amount of Pakistani currency. The JIC, consisting of Intelligence Bureau (IB), BSF, local police and other government agencies, did not find any weapon or explosives in his possession,” said Sharma.
Amir, a school dropout, hails from a very poor family and left his home without his parent’s knowledge at night on December 3.
“Early next morning, Amir trespassed the India-Pakistan international border at Anupgarh sector when the BSF caught him. He was clueless about how to reach Mumbai and the mode of transport. Since he did not have enough money, he had planned to walk over 1,300km to reach Mumbai to meet the girl. The BSF handed him over to the custody of the Anupgarh police and we have referred him to the JIC, which questioned and booked him for trespass and other offences. After completing the probe, the BSF will initiate proceedings for pushback after taking up the issue with Pakistani rangers,” said Sharma.