At the MRA Marg police station near Mumbai’s Crawford Market, a 65-year-old Pakistani national, Nadir Karim Khan, spends his days waiting for a journey home that has remained elusive for over three years.
Dressed in a pahadi topi and pathani kurta, Khan is a familiar face at the station, often seen serving tea to officers or sitting silently.
According to the Indian Express, Khan, a cloth merchant from Karachi, was sentenced to six months in jail for illegally entering India. Since then, he has been awaiting deportation.
According to the police, in November 2021, Khan travelled to Kathmandu for business but was allegedly duped by local vendors, who placed an order worth over 2.5 crore Pakistani rupees but never paid.
Left stranded in Nepal for nearly two years, Khan claims that he was assaulted and robbed of his passport and documents in September 2023. With no means to pay a fine imposed for overstaying, he crossed into India via the Sonauli land port in Uttar Pradesh.
Nadir Khan then travelled to Delhi, where he sought help from the Pakistan High Commission. But he was allegedly turned away.
Eventually, he came to Mumbai and approached the police for assistance.
Khan was arrested on April 11, 2024, under the Foreigners Act, 1946, and the Passport Act. After a trial, the Esplanade Court sentenced him to six months in jail and imposed a fine of Rs 500.
After release from Arthur Road Jail in October, Khan has been placed under police custody at the MRA Marg station while authorities carry out his deportation process.
“We have contacted the Ministry of External Affairs to arrange his deportation. A response is expected soon,” said Senior Police Inspector Santosh Dhanvate.
Khan, awaiting his return, remains confined to the police station. Unable to contact his family, he often cries when he misses them.
“We see him looking at photos of his two wives and children,” said an officer.
For now, Khan’s return home remains uncertain, but as the diplomatic process goes on, he continues to wait—hoping for the day he can finally reunite with his family in Karachi.
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