Two Russian nationals were grilled by police here on Saturday before they were released after their travel documents were found valid and authentic.
According to the police, Galimav Marat and Ivferev Vasili, both engineering students of the Choykovski Technological Institute, Izhevsk, Russia, had been found along the roadside near a truck which met with an accident on the Friday under the Niali police station in Cuttack district. local villagers informed the police about their presence. The Niali police took them for questioning, and after learning that they stayed in Puri, handed over the duo to the Puri police.
Puri Superintendent of Police Asish Kumar Singh questioned them and found that they have valid three-month tourist VISAs and passports with 80 days still left to move in India.
During questioning, it was learnt that the two arrived at Puri four days ago and were running short of money as their ATM cards were not functioning. They went to Konark and boarded a Cuttack-bound truck via Niali. On the way at Niali, the truck collided with a passenger bus and the driver fled. They were waiting at nearby road while police picked them up, Marat said.
Marat said to mediapersons that the Nilai police told them that they were picked up on suspicion as US President Barack Obama is to visit India and special alert on terror has been sounded. Both Russians said they were ignorant about Obama’s visit as they had not seen television since last so many days. To save money they were availing a free ride by the truck to Cuttack and from there they were to go the Kolkata airport to leave for Indonesia. Police found valid air tickets in their possession.