Bangladeshi Abdul K. Choudhury Arrested From Cooch Behar of West Bengal After Living For 15 Years Disguised As A Sadhu

Bangladeshi National Abdul Khayer Choudhury had lived in India under the guise of a Hindu holy man for 15 years, travelling across the country, gathering disciples and practising faith-based rituals and traditional healing. His remarkable run came to an abrupt end not through a sophisticated intelligence operation, but through the questions of ordinary residents at a roadside tea stall.

The man, dressed in red religious robes and sporting a tilak on his forehead, was drinking tea at the Bholanath Crossing in Bhanukumari, under Tufanganj-II block of Cooch Behar district. His unfamiliar presence aroused the curiosity of locals and inconsistencies in his answers deepened suspicions, prompting residents to detain him and alert the police.

During interrogation, he reportedly identified himself as Abdul Khayer Choudhury, a native of Bangladesh’s Bagerhat district, who had allegedly crossed into India illegally through North 24 Parganas fifteen years ago. He had been using the name “Ratan” to conceal his identity, according to the police. Two mobile phones and SIM cards were recovered from him.

A court has remanded him to four days of police custody. Investigators are examining whether the case has any connection to espionage, although no such link has been established.

The episode is a sobering reminder that vigilance cannot depend solely on official machinery. Yet citizen vigilance must be matched by professional investigation, accountable policing and effective border controls.

When ordinary people expose what years of oversight may have missed, the immediate question is not merely how the disguise survived, but why the system failed to see through it.