KOLKATA:
Bangladesh
cricketer
Saif Hassan had to pay a penalty of Rs 21,600 before being allowed to fly home on Wednesday evening.
Hassan, a reserve opener in the Bangladesh squad that toured India for a two-Test series, was stopped at the NSCBI airport on Monday for trying to fly to
Dhaka
without a valid visa. On Wednesday, he got the necessary visa issued by the Indian High Commission in Dhaka, a senior Bangladesh government official informed.
The first batch of Bangladesh cricketers returned to Dhaka on Sunday, hours after they suffered an innings defeat to India in the historic pink-ball Test match at
Eden Gardens
which was attended by Bangladesh Prime Minister
Sheikh Hasina and West Bengal chief minister
Mamata Banerjee on Day One.
The rest of the team members, including Hassan, walked into the city airport to catch a Dhaka flight on Monday morning. However, the authorities noticed during the issue of boarding passes that Hassan's visa was valid till Sunday midnight. He was obviously not allowed to fly and had to stay back in the city.
Hassan's visa had been issued in June and was valid for a period of six months.
Neither the player nor team officials spotted that Hassan's visa was to expire on Sunday itself, and so no step was taken to extend it. Hassan thus had to dish out a penalty of Rs 21,600.
An official informed that the BJP-led government at the Centre had made recent changes in the financial penalty for overstaying in India for even a few hours.