Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Gopinath Munde has said his Government would intensify its drive against "illegal residents" while the Left Front Government has decided to provide legal assistance to those evicted to prove their citizenship in the Calcutta High Court.

"We do not know whether these people were given the scope to prove themselves in Mumbai. The process of eviction by Mumbai police is based only on suspicion against Bengali-speaking people, especially Muslims," said West Bengal Home Minister Buddhadev Bhattacharyya.

Bhattacharyya described the Maharashtra action as illegal. He claimed that many of the people identified as Bangladeshis were actually from West Bengal. "Why did the Maharashtra policemen come here without our permission? How can they open fire in our statewithout our approval?" an infuriated Bhattacharjee asked.

Meanwhile, the Calcutta High Court today passed an order staying the move of the Maharashtra Government. Justice S Banerjee issued the order on an application by three zari workers, moved by Bikash Bhattacharya, Advocate General of Tripura.

Most of the people sent packing from Mumbai, the West Bengal government says, are genuine Indian citizens who had migrated to Mumbai to work in the zari trade.

Over the past two days, two batches of people whom Maharashtra calls Bangladeshis have been put on trains and sent to the state under police escort. "The Maharashtra Government hasn't followed the right procedure on this," Chief Secretary Manish Gupta told The Indian Express. "There has been no liaison with us."

Bhattacharyya said that many of the people identified as Bangladeshis were actually from West Bengal. While there was no question of sheltering any Bangladeshis here, genuine Indian citizens cannot be put through thisordeal, he said.

However, Munde claimed there was "no chance of any mistake" since the government had followed established procedure. He said that all "illegal residents" were first identified by the Special Branch and there was a quasi-judicial probe. These people were deported only after necessary orders were obtained from the authorities, he said.

The Maharashtra Government's move has caused quite a stir in both political and administrative circles here. The state government says it was kept in the dark over the intended "deportation" of the people identified by a Mumbai court as Bangladeshis.

Yesterday, several thousand people, led by Forward Bloc MLA Rabin Ghosh, attacked a train carrying 34 of them from Mumbai to Howrah. The Maharashtra policemen who were escorting these people had to fire at the Uluberia railway station as the protesters helped the "Bangladeshis" escape.

Forward Bloc activists said these people belonged to different places in Howrah district and had migrated to Mumbai for work.They had been handcuffed and chained to the windows of the train compartment, Ghosh alleged.

Ghosh said that he knew at least 16 out of the 34 freed yesterday. "These simple people become victims as they don't know how to carry the legal credentials with them wherever they travel and the BJP-Shiv Sena Government has fully exploited their simplicity."

Another batch of Bengali-speaking people was brought from Mumbai for deportation to Bangladesh. After keeping them at the Sealdah railway station for the night, the Maharashtra policemen took them to Kalyani in Nadia district and established contact with the Border Security Force.

But the State Government stalled further moves and the batch, which included a woman, was later brought to Barasat in North 24 Parganas yesterday afternoon. They were handed over to the West Bengal police.

Deputy Inspector General of BSF (South Bengal) Pradhan said that the Maharashtra Government had informed the BSF of the deportation move. According to him, three to four otherbatches of such people from Mumbai had arrived here in recent weeks. He, however, could not say if these people had been deported. "It's between the Maharashtra Government and the BSF. The West Bengal Government has no role in this," he said.

On July 28, the Forward Bloc will stage a statewide protest day and Left MPs are expected to meet Home Minister L K Advani in New Delhi the next day.

The Congress, Muslim League and the Left parties have taken strong exception to Maharashtra's move. State Director-General of Police Deepak Sanyal told The Indian Express that steps were being taken to "identify the passengers who were set free by the mob."

MIDNAPUR: Meanwhile, prohibitory orders under Section 144 of the CrPC were clamped in and around the Kharagpur railway station this evening when a mob demanded release of the 38 Bangladeshi nationals' who were taken off the Kurla Express by the police and handed over to the GRP earlier in the day.

The police said the mob demanded that those in thecustody of the GRP were their relatives and that they be released. When the mob grew restive the police made a lathicharge and dispersed them. A report from North 24 Parganas said 16 Bangladeshi nationals were taken into safe custody by the district police from the Maharashtra police during the day, according to superintendent of police Kuldip Singh.