Memo submitted to Agartala visa office

First Secretary of Bangladesh visa office Sajjad Taimur said one of the employees of his office had received a written memorandum but he did not see it as the office was closed, a PTI report from Agartala said.

The nine Indians, including one Gautam Bhowmick were arrested for illegal entry without passport and engaging in building a podium for Prime Minister Khaleda Zia's scheduled public meeting at Laksham on March 13. They were brought on police remand for interrogation.

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Tripura Decorators' Association Secretary Hrishikesh Poddar said Gautam Bhowmick, proprietor of Tarakeswar Decorators of Agartala along with his eight employees had entered Bangladesh without passport for putting up a temporary stage when their services were required by one Swapan Saha, Vice-President of the Laksham unit of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP).

Poddar said "the border is porous and often labourers from both the countries enter each others territories… but this time they are being labelled as terrorists."

The leader of the opposition (Congress) Ratan Lal Nath and Jubo Jana Morcha, the youth wing of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), demanded that the state government take up the matter with the central government so that Delhi can take up the matter with Dhaka for their release.

Acting Chief Minister Anil Sarkar said, "We have already taken up the matter with the central government who has assured us that they are looking into the issue."