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Central agencies to question Chinese national held at Indo-Nepal border in UP's Bahraich

LUCKNOW: Sleuths from central intelligence agencies reached Bahraich in Uttar Pradesh on Wednesday to question 49-year-old Chinese national Liu Kunjing. Kunjing was detained on Monday by the Border Intelligence Team of the SSB and the UP police along the IndiaNepal border in the Rupaidiha area of Bahraich. Kunjing was caught when he was filming the SSB camp and other security installations close to Border Pillar 651/07barely 60 metres inside Indian territory. Kunjings passport had visas of Pakistan, Nepal and Vietnam stamped on it indicating his extensive travel history, which further added to the concerns of security agencies. 1 Three mobile phones a Vivo X7 Pro, a Vivo Nexa and an iPhone 6s along with an iFlytek translator device, suggesting he was prepared for multilingual communication, were recovered from him. A Nepal map marking sensitive border points was also seized. The sources said that during the initial questioning, Kunjing told the officers that he wanted to go to Delhi for furniture business via Nepalgunj and Rupaidihaan unauthorised route for foreign nationals. However, he did not have the Indian visa and sneaked into the Indian territory. In the meantime, the three mobile phone numbers, the digital data of his phones were shared with surveillance and cyber experts who were analysing it. Subsequently, the SSB and ATS informed all central agencies, including the Intelligence Bureau (IB), Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW) and Military Intelligence about the arrest. Kunjing was booked under Section 21 of the Foreigners and Immigration Act, 2025 for entering India through an illegal route. After his medical examination, he was produced before local court and sent to Bahraich jail under 14-day judicial custody. The central intelligence officers would question him inside the prison itself under tight security. The sources claimed that the focus of the central agencies while interrogating Kunjing would be to extract information about his contacts in Pakistan and unravel his travel history across the sub-continent. Moreover, the investigators are also trying to ascertain his purpose of intrusion and the contact whom he wanted to meet in Delhi. Sources said investigators were examining if Kunjing's movements, cross-country travel and marked maps indicated possible reconnaissance, espionage-linked activity, or the presence of a larger cross-border network operating along the porous IndoNepal frontier. The interrogation may continue for the next few days as agencies verify digital, financial and travel footprints recovered from his devices and documents.