Three Sri Lankan nationals from Jaffna were detained with a woman from Tamil Nadu near the India-Nepal border late on Wednesday night, and officials say the visas attached to the Sri Lankans’ passports had expired about three months earlier.
The four were stopped by India’s Sashastra Seema Bal — the paramilitary force that guards the Nepal and Bhutan frontiers — near the Rajjanwa checkpost in Bahraich district, Uttar Pradesh, the Daily Mirror reported, reproducing a report by The Times of India.
How they were stopped
The group had travelled to the border area by auto-rickshaw and was seen asking for directions towards Nepal, according to preliminary information officials gave the Indian paper. Personnel at the checkpost could not communicate with them because of a language barrier, and referred the matter to the SSB for verification.
The SSB questioned the four and carried out a preliminary check of their belongings and documents. That is when the three Sri Lankan passports were found, with visas officials said had lapsed roughly three months earlier. All four were handed to Murtiha police station for detailed questioning and legal action.
Investigators said the group was allegedly attempting to cross into Nepal through a forested stretch adjoining the border.
Those detained
The three Sri Lankans were named as Ajith Kumar, 39; Kaushalya, 38; and Prabhap, 38, all described as residents of Jaffna. The fourth person was named as Dharm Sudhakar, 35, a woman from Tamil Nadu.
One detail in the source report does not hold together. Having named the fourth person as a woman from Tamil Nadu, the report then describes her as “Sudhakar’s wife” — a reference back to her own name, and to a person not among the three Sri Lankans named. This desk cannot resolve which relationship was meant, so the claim is recorded as unreliable rather than reproduced as fact. The report states separately that the relationships between the four are still being verified.
What Indian police say they are investigating
Police are trying to establish why the group travelled to the region, whether the movement was planned in advance, and what destination in Nepal they intended to reach.
Circle officer Amit Kumar said questioning had been difficult because of the language barrier and that an interpreter was being arranged to record statements. Additional superintendent of police (rural) Durga Prasad Tiwari said the four were being questioned and that the next step would be decided after document verification and further inquiry.
Not reported
No charge has been reported against any of the four, and the filing does not say whether they have been formally arrested or are being held for verification. It does not record any comment from Sri Lankan authorities or the High Commission in New Delhi, and does not say how or when the three entered India, or on what class of visa. No motive is established — only that police are seeking one.
Sourcing note
This report rests on a single verified source. The Daily Mirror is a verified newsroom and its filing was date-checked against the publication’s own datePublished stamp of 23 October. The underlying reporting is The Times of India’s, which the Daily Mirror credits in its text; the Times of India is not on this desk’s verified-domains list, so it is named here as the originating outlet rather than cited as a source. No Sri Lankan newsroom had independently reported the detentions at the time of writing.
Sources: Three Sri Lankans detained near Indo-Nepal border — Daily Mirror, October 23.