<p>Seventeen Bangladeshis, including a "religious preacher", were arrested from a remote location in Assam's Biswanath district on Saturday on charges of violating visa norms, a senior police officer said.</p>.<p>Those arrested had previously visited religious places in other parts of India, the officer said.</p>.<p>Biswanath superintendent of police Navin Singh told <em>PTI</em> that the group was apprehended from Baghmari area of the district.</p>.<p>They had reached Biswanath on September 13 by bus from Cooch Behar district in West Bengal and were engaged in "religious preaching", he said.</p>.<p>"Syed Ashraful Alam, a preacher, was leading the group", with the other members being his "followers", the SP said.</p>.<p>"The religious preacher was engaged in spreading his teachings in remote areas of Baghmari and had already taken 500 people there as his disciples.</p>.<p>The police officer said the group had visited other religious places like Ajmer Sharif before coming to Assam.</p>.<p>"We had a tip off that these 17 people were engaging in activities like religious preaching, which is not allowed by foreigners entering on a tourist visa. We verified the information and arrested them," Singh added.</p>
<p>Seventeen Bangladeshis, including a "religious preacher", were arrested from a remote location in Assam's Biswanath district on Saturday on charges of violating visa norms, a senior police officer said.</p>.<p>Those arrested had previously visited religious places in other parts of India, the officer said.</p>.<p>Biswanath superintendent of police Navin Singh told <em>PTI</em> that the group was apprehended from Baghmari area of the district.</p>.<p>They had reached Biswanath on September 13 by bus from Cooch Behar district in West Bengal and were engaged in "religious preaching", he said.</p>.<p>"Syed Ashraful Alam, a preacher, was leading the group", with the other members being his "followers", the SP said.</p>.<p>"The religious preacher was engaged in spreading his teachings in remote areas of Baghmari and had already taken 500 people there as his disciples.</p>.<p>The police officer said the group had visited other religious places like Ajmer Sharif before coming to Assam.</p>.<p>"We had a tip off that these 17 people were engaging in activities like religious preaching, which is not allowed by foreigners entering on a tourist visa. We verified the information and arrested them," Singh added.</p>