Click to play videoNew Delhi: Political patronage to illegal migrants from Bangladesh over the past few years has meant that the number of Bangladeshis living illegally in India has almost trebled.
Illegal migrants from Bangladesh have significantly altered the demographic complexion of the border areas.
Now the situation is such that border districts are inhabited by a population that is ethnically, culturally, linguistically and perhaps even religiously identical, making the job of the security forces much tougher.
The three-layered fence at the border is meant to prevent smugglers, migrants, traffickers and gun-runners from entering India from Bangladesh. Close to 2,500 kilometres of the 4,000-kilometre long border have been fenced with barbed wire and concrete by India, under a Rs 120 crore project.
But migrants and infiltrators still make it across.
Kohinoor Asrafi is a suspected terrorist infiltrator who is fluent in Hindi and Bengali. He was caught by the Border Security Force (BSF) with a diary filled with contacts in Pakistan, New Delhi and Patna.
The diary begins with the handwritten lines, Ya Allah destroy these people. But Asrafi says he is innocent and claims the diary is an old one.
"A coolie demanded Rs 800 to get me across and Rs 400 for returning. I came here with the help of a dalal (middleman). He warned me if I tell anyone he will get me caught," claims Kohinoor Asrafi.
Others like Safia cross over in search of a better life. Safia, who lives in Jessore district in Bangladesh, claims she entered India legally from the Petrapol border crossing, to get treatment for appendicitis.
She says the treatment cost her Rs 15,000 but she had brought only Rs 200 from Bangladesh. When asked how did she manage to get the rest of the amount, Safia replied that she begged at Hazir Ali Dargah in Kolkata
Once in Kolkata, Safia decided to stay back and do household work. She was caught by the BSF while trying to illegally cross back into Bangladesh with her eight-year-old son.
She says she was trying to get her daughter from Bangladesh, but was abandoned by a trafficker.
"He ran away to Bangladesh. I could not. I fell down and could not get up," she says.
Large stretches of the infiltration-prone region continue to be unfenced, like the border area just two hours away from Kolkata, where Indians and Bangladeshis live in close proximity.
"I have my relatives there. My son has been settled in Bangladesh for a long time, he has also married there. We meet either when he comes here by road or when we go to Bangladesh with our passports and visas. Lots of people here have relatives in Bangladesh," says an Indian villager Mosiur Rehman Sheikh.
In some stretches along the North 24 Parganas, the border appears to be better guarded.
Everyday Bangladeshi nationals stand in line to show their identity cards and cross into India. But illegal migration along this stretch, too, is an open secret.
"Suppose I am a Bangladeshi migrant, I have to contact some politicians only. I cannot apply via normal visa process after moving here. I'll have to get someone to introduce me to the local politicians or some officers who will do it for me," reveals an illegal Bangladeshi migrant.
And once inside, many Bangladeshis have even made it into voter lists, and cast their ballots.
"We paid the dalals (middleman). The amount varies depending on the present security condition from Rs 200-Rs 400. There are dalals on both sides who contact with the BSF and the BDR. Only the dalals know which officers of the BSF and BDR have to be bribed," says another illegal migrant.
"I have voted in the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections," he adds.
Another illegal Bangladeshi migrant says, "I came to India with the help of dalals who bribed both the BSF and the BDR. Powerful politicians in India give us papers for money. My voter card was issued based on the id of my mother who moved to India long back."
The CNN-IBN investigation shows that the porous Indo-Bangladesh border has numerous routes through which people cross over.
Illegal Bangladeshi migrants in India are helped by corrupt officials and politicians who want to increase their votebank.
But the border could also be the next possible route terrorists might use to attack India
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