Maharashtra engineering student held in Gujarat, trying sneak into Pak to meet a girl

By Line: Purvi Jain

A 20-year-old engineering student from Maharashtra was posted by the Border Security Force (BFS) in Gujarat’s Rann of Kutch where he was trying to get into Pakistan to meet a girl, he befriended on social media, says officials on Friday.

Officials confirmed that the man was identified as Zishan Mohammad Siddiqui who is a resident of Khwajangar in Maharashtra’s Osmanabad town.

Kutch-East Superintendent of Police, Parikshita Rathore said that “Siddiqui was held by the BSF on Thursday night and later handed over to the local police”.

Rathore further added, “police had issued an alert after a motorcycle with the Maharashtra registration number was found abandoned near Dholaviren village in the Rann of Kutch on Thursday evening. The BFS later nabbed the man where he found walking towards the border in a bid to enter Pakistan”.

As per the police officials from Pakistan, Siddiqui left his home in Osmanabad on a motorcycle on July 11 in order to meet a girl in Pakistan as there is no means of transport due to the lockdown.

He said that “he went to Kutch on his motorcycle to cross the border and enter Pakistan”.

As per the sources of police, when his bike got stuck in the sand then he started walking towards Pakistan.

Police officials said that he was in touch with a Pakistani girl from the past few months and they were in love.

Superintendent of police, Rajtilak Roshan, Osmanabad says, “after his disappearance, his family members had approached the Osmanabad city police station and lodged a missing complaint”.

He said, “Police launched a probe and Siddiqui’s social media accounts were examined, in which it came to light that he has left home to meet his love interest in Pakistan.”

On the basis of mobile phone records, the cyber wing of Osmanabad police has traced his whereabouts, say officials.

He said that he was traced near Kutch and the details were being shared with the Gujarat police.

As per another official, the information about Siddiqui was also shared with BFS officials and he was also detained on Thursday night before he was going to enter Pakistan.

The Osmanabad police said that they obtained some messages that were being exchanged between them.

The officials say that a team of Osmanabad police has left towards Kutch to take his custody and bring him home back.

After a statement was issued by BFS in Gujarat said after he was caught, he told that he was in love with Karachi based girl.

“He wanted to go to Pakistan and had used Google map for navigation. He was apprehended about 1.5 km short of Indo-Pak international border when he was attempting to cross over to Pakistan. He was in a dehydrated state and revealed that he has gone unconscious for about two hours in the Rann”, it says.