A court in Bhubaneswar on Tuesday sentenced nine Bangladeshis to two years’ rigorous imprisonment and fined them for illegally entering India without valid documents. ₹10,000 on each accused.
Inspector Manoj Kumar Shetty of the STF said the gang was booked under Section 14 of the Foreigners Act, 1946 (Shutterstock).The group, which included three women, was arrested in March 2025 aboard a train traveling from India’s northeastern Assam to the south coast, said Inspector Manoj Kumar Shetty of the Odisha Police’s Special Task Force (STF), which investigated the case.
Shetty said the group was convicted under Section 14 of the Foreigners Act, 1946, which prescribes a maximum penalty of five years for the violation. If the defendants fail to pay the money ₹10,000 fine, they shall undergo an additional three months rigorous imprisonment.
The case dates back to March 8, 2025, when STF personnel detained nine persons on an intelligence tip-off on the Dibrugarh-Chennai Express at Bhubaneswar railway station.
The group, comprising six men and three women from four districts of Bangladesh (Mymensingh, Bagerhat, Pirojpur and Dhaka), entered India through the Assam border. Sethi said the police seized seven mobile phones and Bangladeshi currency from the suspects.
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The nine have been identified as Md Hasim (46), Sajib Khan alias Md Sajib (24), Allam Shaika (41), Md Azeem (40), Dilara Sheikh alias Altaf (45), Md Soha Talukdar (36), Karima Begum (25), Monira Begum (30), and Sahana Begum (45).
Last year, Odisha Chief Minister, Mohan Majhi told state lawmakers that over 3,700 undocumented Bangladeshis had been identified across the state.
