Online Desk  :   The immigration authorities have sent back 83 members of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) when they attempted to travel to India through Benapole check post in Sharsha upazila of Jashore in the last two days. Imtiaz Ahsanul Quader Bhuiyan, officer-in-charge (OC) of the Benapole Immigration Police, said that these ISKCON members from different districts of the country came to the Benapole immigration to go to India to perform religious ceremonies. But they could not enter India as the immigration police turned them back.

He said these ISKCON members reportedly had valid passports and visas but ‘no specific government permission’ required for their travel, he said. Objections were raised against their travel as their journey was considered suspicious, therefore 83 people have returned in the last two days — Saturday evening and Sunday morning. There is, however, no restriction on the travel of ordinary passport holders, the OC said. Meanwhile, Chinmoy Krishna Das Brahmachari, spokesperson of Bangladesh Sammilita Sanatani Jagran Jote, has been detained by members of the Detective Branch of the police from the Dhaka airport on November 25. After this, there has been a demand for his release from India.

On October 30, Firoz Khan, general secretary of city’s Mohra Ward BNP, filed a case against 19 people, including Chinmoy Krishna Das, with Chattogram Kotwali Police Station, accusing them of desecrating the national flag during a rally at Lal Dighi ground on October 25.