Two British passport holders — a man and a woman, both doctors — were detained on Saturday, allegedly for entering India illegally from Nepal at the Rupaideha border in Bahraich district in Uttar Pradesh.
As per the preliminary interrogation, the duo was handed over to the police, who arrested the foreign nationals after registering a case.
Personnel of the Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) and Uttar Pradesh Police intercepted the duo. The arrest came amid the intensified checking in the wake of the blast near Delhi’s Red Fort.
Ganga Singh Udawat, Commandant of the SSB’s 42nd Battalion stated that the two foreigners were stopped for verification after they crossed into India from Nepal. “During scrutiny of their documents, it was found that both were British nationals and did not possess a valid Indian visa. They failed to provide any satisfactory reason for their entry into India,” he was quoted by news agency PTI.
According to Udawat, both the British nationals claimed to be medical professionals and said they had travelled to Nepalganj in Nepal on the invitation of a local hospital.
The detained man was identified as Dr Hassan Amman Saleem (35), son of Mohammad Saleem, of Pakistan origin. His current address is listed as Manchester, United Kingdom. Sources claimed that Hassan travelled to Pakistan three times in the past three years.
The woman was identified as Dr Sumitra Shakeel Olivia (61), daughter of John Frederick, originally from Udupi, Karnataka. She is a British passport holder, with her present address in Gloucester, United Kingdom.
A case has been registered against the two individuals under the Passport Act, 1967.
