Man caught near Nepal border with expired visa

Amitava Banerjee | MP | 5 December 2018 | Darjeeling: A Russian national was arrested on Wednesday for allegedly travelling and staying in India without any valid visa.

The 45-year-old man, Sergei Demin had left his country, Russia around 8 years ago. He used to often travel around Delhi, Kolkata, Siliguri and Nepal. He has been residing in India for the past 5 years without a valid visa.

On Wednesday, when he was entering India from Nepal, the SSB at Panitanki (Indo-Nepal border) near Siliguri became suspicious. He was frisked. A passport was found. 

However, his visa had expired long back. Sergei had come in through Birtamore in Nepal and crossed over Mechi bridge to enter India. He was the arrested by the SSB. Sergei can converse in Nepali, Bengali and Hindi. He told police he had landed at Delhi Airport in 2011 and headed for Nepal. 

After his visa had expired he had started residing in far flung South Kali area of Nepal. From here he used to frequent Kolkata via Siliguri. In Kolkata, he was taking lessons in Sanskrit. This time as well he was headed to Kolkata to continue with the lessons. He claimed that after his visa expired in 2014 he was unable to return to Russia. Police recovered Rs 60,476 from him. Police have started an investigation. "We are probing from where he got the money. Does he have any link or what is his actual purpose of visit or stay in India and Nepal," stated a police source.