At least nine people from Bangladesh were reportedly caught while entering the Jagannath temple in Odisha’s Puri town on Sunday. These non-Hindus people were staying at a hotel in the holy city, informed sources to News18.
Among the nine, four were said to have entered the 12th-century shrine while the remaining five persons were found outside, added the source. They were immediately taken to Singhadwar police station, where the cops seized their passports.
The police have detained them and launched a probe into the incident. Further, the cops have also investigated the hotel rooms of all the accused. Notably, non-Hindus are barred from entering the Jagannath temple.
Early March, state’s forest department personnel arrested two Bangladeshis, suspected to be poachers, after a boat was intercepted in Basirhat range under Sunderbans early Friday, a senior forest official said.
The two – Sirajul Barkandaj and Al Amin Seikh – told the interrogators they were residents of Satkhira in the neighbouring country and claimed they came for fishing, the official said.
Personnel of the Sunderban Tiger Reserve intercepted the boat and found the duo at Burirdah canal under Bashirhat range in North 24 Parganas district at 3 am. Fishing tools along with equipment which are suspected to be used for hunting were found in their possession.
Chief Wildlife Warden Debal Sen told PTI that prima facie, the two might have come for fishing inside Indian territory, but they needed to be interrogated to ascertain if they were part of any poaching racket.
“Our patrol team had intercepted the two. We are always alert to keep a tab on activities of Bangladeshi boatmen coming into India,”.
The two were later produced before a court which remanded them to five days of judicial custody.
(with PTI inputs)
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