Govt to probe 173 foreigners arrival in Gopalganj: Dy CM

Patna: Deputy CM-cum-home minister Samrat Choudhary informed the state assembly on Monday that the govt would conduct a thorough inquiry into the arrival of 173 foreign nationals from Pakistan, Russia and Uzbekistan on missionary visas in Gopalganj district over the 25-year period from 1990 to 2015.

“A probe would be conducted into the cases of 173 foreign nationals from Pakistan, Russia and Uzbekistan who had come to Gopalganj from 1990-2015,” Choudhary said in the House, while giving a reply to the starred question of BJP MLA Mithilesh Kumar Tiwari, who represents Baikunthpur assembly seat in the district.


“The inquiry ordered by the govt would look into the activities of the 173 foreign nationals who had arrived in the Gopalganj district on missionary visas. It will also look into what else they had been doing in the state other than missionary activities,” Choudhary added.

Earlier, through his starred question, Tiwari brought into the notice of the govt that 173 foreign nationals, including 167 from Karachi and Rawalpindi in Pakistan, five from Russia and one from Uzbekistan, had arrived on missionary visa during from 1990 to 2015 about which the district office has no record, except the one mentioned by the then Gopalganj SP in his letter of Nov 28, 2015. The SP had pointed out about 173 foreign nationals who had reached the district on their missionary visas.

“They had come on missionary visas, but there is no record of what their activities were and what else other than that they were doing,” Tiwari said, and added that there are a number of hearsay talks about them, but there is no concrete information about them.

“The district does not have any information even about their return to their countries. The country’s immigration office could be consulted in this regard,” he also said.