New NIA team to grill Bangladeshi youths caught travelling with invalid documents

A new National Investigation Agency team will visit Agartala tomorrow to comprehensively interrogate the 24 Bangladeshi youths arrested last week for travelling on invalid documents, a police official said today.

The NIA team would question the youths to find if they are in any way linked to any terror outfits, the official said.

Previously, a two-member NIA team from Guwahati, headed by SP Vivekananda Das, interrogated the youths on Friday and left on Sunday, the official said.

The new NIA team would work with the police and other investigation agencies from various states, the official said.

The youths were arrested on Thursday after they were found to have used fake Aadhaar cards. "During interrogation, we have found that the cards were morphed at a shop in Deoband area of Uttar Pradesh," he said.

Interrogation reports suggest that the arrested youths might be linked with people from other states. It is also suspected that the mastermind of the racket could be based in Uttar Pradesh or West Bengal, the official said.

An inter-state investigation has to be started to track the mastermind.

State investigating agencies were also grilling them.

Acting on a tip-off, the mobile task force - a section of the Tripura police that deals with illegal immigration and related cases - raided Agartala railway station on Thursday and arrested the 24 Bangladeshis, who reached here on the weekly Tripura Sundari Express that originates from Anand Vihar Terminal in Delhi.

The official said that 12 out of the 24 youths have submitted passports during interrogation, which have Indian immigration stamps from Petrapole-Benapole border in West Bengal.

Investigating agencies are examining whether the passports are valid, the officer said.

Some of the arrested youth earlier admitted during interrogation that they illegally crossed the Indo-Bangla border near Benapole in Bangladesh.

They claimed they paid money to some individuals to cross the border into India. Three expired passports were also recovered from their possession, he said.