Nine Bangladeshis were detained by the Odisha Police for allegedly entering the Jagannath Temple in Puri unauthorisedly, an officer said on Monday.

They were detained on Sunday evening after a few Vishva Hindu Parishad activists found that several Bangladeshi non-Hindus entered the 12th-century shrine, flouting the temple norms, and lodged a complaint at the Singhadwar Police Station, he said.

After getting the complaint, a police team reached the spot and detained the tourists for questioning, Puri Additional SP Sushil Mishra said.

“We have received a complaint that some non-Hindu people from Bangladesh have entered the temple. We have detained nine Bangladeshis and started questioning them,” the additional superintendent of police said.

As per temple norms, only Hindus are allowed to enter the shrine.

If they are found to be non-Hindu, action will be taken against them, as per law, Mishra said.

“We are verifying their passports. It was found that one of them is a Hindu. We are checking the passports of others. Preliminary investigation suggests that four of the nine detainees entered the temple,” he added.

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