UP police gets custody of arrested Chinese national, his Indian girlfriend

Police in Uttar Pradesh's Gautam Buddh Nagar secured a three-day custody of a Chinese national, who was arrested earlier this week on charges of staying illegally in India, and his Indian girlfriend

Police in Uttar Pradesh's Gautam Buddh Nagar on Friday secured a three-day custody of a Chinese national, who was arrested earlier this week on charges of staying illegally in India, and his Indian girlfriend, officials said.

The police had sought a week-long custody of Chinese national Xue fei aka Kelay (36) and his Indian girlfriend Petekhrinuo (22), who hails from Nagaland, but a court in Surajpur granted them only three days' remand, a senior officer said.

Xue fei was staying at the Jaypee Greens society in Greater Noida with his Indian girlfriend since 2020 with no valid documents and an expired visa. The duo were arrested from a hotel in Haryana's Gurugram on Monday, according to officials.

The arrest of Xue fei and Petekhrinuo came after the arrest of two more Chinese nationals, who were residing with them in Greater Noida, but were caught at the Indo-Nepal border in Bihar last Saturday while trying to cross over to the Himalayan nation, the officials said.

"The police have secured three days' custody of the Chinese national and his Indian friend. They are being questioned by the police as well as central probe agencies," Deputy Commissioner of Police (Greater Noida) Minakshi Katyayan told PTI, declining to comment further on the topic.

Meanwhile, police in Greater Noida continued to investigate possible links to a Chinese-style club that was being operated illegally and in a clandestine manner in the remote Gharbara village.

Police have recovered a currency note-counting machine and retrieved CCTV footage from the three-storey building that had luxury rooms, a bar and a restaurant among other facilities and had Chinese nationals living in India as majority patrons, according to officials.