Bhubaneswar, Feb 3 : A local court in Bhubaneswar on Tuesday sentenced nine Bangladeshi nationals to undergo rigorous imprisonment for two years for entering into India without a passport, visa, or any other valid travel documents.

The court has also asked the convicted illegal immigrants to pay a fine of Rs 10,000 each, failing which they will have to undergo an additional three months of rigorous imprisonment.

Police sources claimed that on March 8, 2025, acting upon reliable information, the Special Task Force (STF) of Odisha Police apprehended ten Bangladeshi nationals, including one juvenile, at Bhubaneswar Railway Station.

"During interrogation they gave prevaricatory statements and tried to escape from the clutches of the raiding team. On being asked they failed to produce Pass Port, Visa or any other valid travel document. They also confessed that they have come to India in a clandestine manner without any valid authority like valid Pass Port, Visa and other travel document through a jungle area of Assam during night time," informed the special public prosecutor RR Brahma.

As the Bangladeshi nationals had entered India secretly without any valid travel documents and came to Bhubaneswar to reside here while suppressing their real identity, they were arrested by the STF after registering a case in this matter.

After a successful investigation, a charge sheet was submitted on May 5 last year against the accused persons under Section 14 of the Foreigners Act, 1946, relating to the violation of Indiaâ??s immigration laws. During the trial, the prosecution examined six witnesses and exhibited 14 relevant documents.

Meanwhile, the juvenile detained in the case was sent to a correctional home in Berhampur following the orders of the Juvenile Justice Board, Bhubaneswar.

Notably, the Odisha government has of late intensified the identification and deportation of Bangladeshi nationals who have been illegally staying in different parts of the state.

While responding to a query in the Odisha Assembly, Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi, in December 2025, stated that 51 Bangladeshi immigrants living illegally in Odisha have been identified since the BJP-led government assumed office in June 2024.

/IANS