Nearly 95 Haj pilgrims are stuck in Calcutta after they were cheated by a travel agency, Assam Assembly’s deputy Speaker Aminul Haque Laskar said on Sunday.

The pilgrims from Assam were not allowed to board the plane after the papers and tickets, provided by the travel agency, were found fake.

Laskar, who is also the vice-president of the state Haj committee, said president of the Northeast Haj Committee, Nekibur Zaman, had met the pilgrims in Calcutta and told them that they would be brought back to the state soon and legal action would be initiated against the travel agency.

He said the pilgrims were depressed as they could not go on the pilgrimage. But he said the committee would try to procure visas for them on Monday.

If it failed, he said the pilgrims would be brought back within a couple of days.

He expressed concern over the entire issue and said they would definitely take action against the fraudulent tour and travel agency.

Of the 95 Haj pilgrims, 26 are from Barak Valley in south Assam.

Laskar arrived in Silchar on Sunday after becoming deputy Speaker for the first time and was accorded a warm welcome.

The top brass of Cachar district BJP, including vice-president of the state BJP Biswarup Bhattacharjee, vice-president of Cachar BJP Bimalendu Roy, general-secretary Kanad Purkayastha and Cachar zilla parishad president Amitabha Rai garlanded him at the Kumbhirgram airport in Silchar in the morning.

Laskar is also an MLA from Sonai Assembly constituency of Cachar district in Barak Valley.

The post fell vacant after the resignation of Silchar MLA Dilip Paul. Paul was replaced by Ratabari MLA Kripanath Mallah, but he was elected to Karimganj (SC) Lok Sabha constituency and had to resign.

Laskar was welcomed in different places of the district while heading toward his home constituency from the airport.