US national gets 2 years’ jail for illegally trying to enter Nepal via UP border

“The court sentenced Daniel to two years’ jail and imposed a fine of Rs 20,000 on him,” said government counsel Ramesh Chandra. He added that the foreign national has been convicted under Indian Penal Code sections 419 (cheating by impersonation), 420 (cheating and dishonesty), besides the Foreigners’ Act.

Chandra added that after the judgment on Friday, the convict moved a bail application which was rejected by the court.

According to the prosecution, an immigration department official caught Daniel at the Indo-Nepal border in Maharajganj on March 29. “The official found that Daniel had overwritten on his visa after it expired. He was taken into custody for questioning,” said Chandra.

During inquiry, it came to light that Daniel came to India on a tourist visa in June 2018 and returned home after staying for a few days. He had also gone to Nepal through the Sonauli border.

Chandra said, “Daniel came to India again in 2021 on a tourist visa. When his visa expired, he did some overwriting on it to extend his date of stay. He lived with sadhus in Allahabad and other places. Recently, he came to know about a saint in Nepal. The accused claims he was going to meet this saint in Nepal when he was caught.”

A case was lodged against him at Sonauli police station. The police booked him under IPC sections 419, 420, 467 (forging valuable document), 468 (forgery for cheating) and 471 (knowingly using forged document as genuine) as well as the Foreigners’ Act. The chargesheet was filed in May. As many as six prosecution witnesses were examined by the court.