Japanese steals ACP office chair to court arrest, extend stay in city

Bengaluru: A Japanese student has been sent to a detention centre on the city's outskirts for overstaying in the country after his visa expired and an exit permit lapsed, a police official said on Friday.

"Japanese national Hirotoshi Tanaka, 31, has been sent to detention centre for deportation soon, as he has been overstaying in the city after his one-year visa expired in March 2020 and his exit permit lapsed on January 28, 2021," Bengaluru Deputy Commissioner of Police (North) D.K. Meena told IANS here.

After the Foreigners' Regional Registration Office (FRRO) refused to extend Tanaka's exit permit, as he claimed he had no money to buy an air ticket to fly to his country, police told the Japanese consulate in the city to arrange for his deportation at the earliest.

"In fact, Tanaka stole a chair on February 27 in our assistant commissioner of police (ACP) office in the northern suburb, assuming he would be arrested and kept in jail till his theft case was heard and convicted, as he did not want to go back to his home country, fearing retribution," said Meena.

Interestingly, Tanaka flew to this tech city on a student visa in January 2019 to learn English at the private-run QuickStep English centre, but stopped going to class after he was arrested for allegedly assaulting the centre's principal and jailed, pending trial and conviction. "Though Tanaka came out of jail on bail and FERRO gave him an exit permit to leave the city, he thought of committing petty offences like stealing or cheating so that he could stay back in the city till the case was disposed of he was released after serving the sentence," Meena noted.

As stealing a chair from the ACP's office was a minor offence, the jurisdiction police station did not file a theft complaint against the Japanese and instead sent him to the detention centre to stay till he is deported to Tokyo.

"We have told the Japanese consulate to ensure Tanaka leaves the city at the earliest and avoids overstaying further in the country illegally," Meena added. IANS