Bagerhat: One hundred and seventy-eight Indian fishermen who were arrested from the Bangladesh territory in different times for illegal entry last year went back to their country on Thursday after their release from Bagerhat jail, reports UNB.

Sheikh Lutfur Rahman, officer-in-charge of Mongla police station, said river police in their different drives had arrested the 178 Indian fishermen along with 14 trawlers from Fair Way Buoy in Mongla upazila while they were catching fish in the Bay of Bengal last year. They were handed over to police and separate cases were filed against them.

Later they were sent to the district jail.

Of them, Sanjay Samanta, 35, a fisherman of ‘FB Laxmi-Narayan’ killed himself on 22 September last year by hanging himself with the ceiling of the toilet of the prison cell.

The fishermen hail from different areas of Kakdwip in South 24 Parganas district of India.

Meanwhile, Judge Sirajul Islam Gazi of the Bagerhat Judicial Magistrate Court following the investigation report submitted by police exonerated them from the charges brought against them on Tuesday.

Following the court order, the fishermen left for their country from Mongla on their trawlers.

Besides, the body of Sanjay Samanta also went with them.

Jailer of Bagerhat jail M Mostafa Kamal said the 178 fishermen were arrested in different times and taken to the jail following a court order.

Later a court exonerated the Indian detainees of the charges and after receiving the court order the authorities released them from the jail on Tuesday.

Earlier, 78 more Indian fishermen, who were also arrested on the same charge,had been sent back to their country from Bangladesh on October 2015 after their release from the same jail.