78 Bangladeshis to be repatriated to their country: Odisha Police
Bhubaneswar (PTI): The Odisha Police have decided to repatriate 78 Bangladeshis, who were apprehended by coast guard personnel for allegedly entering into Indian territorial waters, to their country, an officer said.
The decision was taken after several verifications of the foreigners revealed that they were Bangladeshi fishermen, Paradip Deputy Superintendent of Police Santosh Jena said on Wednesday.
The Bangladeshis were questioned by the Indian Coast Guard (ICG), the Crime Branch of Odisha Police and the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF).
The Indian Coast Guard had brought the fishermen to Paradip and handed them over to local police.
According to the decision, the police will send the Bangladeshis to ICG authorities and they will be handed over to the Bangladesh Coast Guard near the International Maritime Boundary Line (IMBL), an official said.
Two arrested Bangladeshis - Rajiv Chandra Sil and R Biswas - said they were "treated properly" by the police and other security personnel in Odisha and were given food.
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Sharad Pawar turns 84, Ajit Pawar joins celebrations
New Delhi (PTI): NCP-SP chief Sharad Pawar on Thursday turned 84 and celebrated his birthday with members of his family and well-wishers, including estranged nephew and Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar.
Pawar, a former Union Minister, cut the birthday cake with a sword at his 6, Janpath residence here, surrounded by party workers.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, NCP chief Ajit Pawar and other prominent leaders greeted the octogenarian leader on his birthday.
Ajit Pawar, who parted ways with the senior Pawar last year and handed out a resounding defeat to the veteran leader in the recent Maharashtra assembly polls, was present at the birthday celebrations along with his family members.
Rajya Sabha member Sunetra Pawar, the wife of Ajit Pawar and their son Paarth, visited the senior leader along with NCP leaders Praful Patel, Chhagan Bhujbal and Sunil Tatkare.
"We came today to wish him (Sharad Pawar) on his birthday,” Bhujbal, once a close confidant of the former Maharashtra chief minister said.
Born on December 12, 1940, Pawar took the political plunge while in college and became a protege of veteran Congress leader Yashwantrao Chavan.
A four-term Maharashtra chief minister, the senior Pawar has also served as Defence Minister and Union Agriculture Minister.
Pawar parted ways with the Congress in 1999 over the issue of the foreign origin of Sonia Gandhi to form the Nationalist Congress Party.
In July last year, the NCP witnessed a split with more than two-thirds of the party MLAs supporting Ajit Pawar, who joined the Shiv Sena-BJP government as deputy chief minister.
Later, the Election Commission recognised the Ajit Pawar-led group as the real NCP and asked the Sharad Pawar-led faction to select a new name for the party and an election symbol.
In the Maharashtra assembly elections last month, the BJP-led MahaYuti coalition comprising Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena, Ajit Pawar-led NCP trounced the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) of Congress, Shiv Sena-UBT and NCP-SP.
The MahaYuti won 235 seats, while the opposition alliance was restricted to 46 seats in the 288-member assembly.
