India sends back Khaleda’s British lawyer from airport over ‘inappropriate visa’

India turned back British lawyer Lord Alexander Carlile from the Delhi airport soon after his flight landed from London on Wednesday, reports NDTV.

Lord Carlile, a legal consultant to jailed former Bangladesh Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, was reported to have travelled to New Delhi to address a media briefing to highlight what the opposition BNP says are "baseless allegations" against her.

New Delhi attributed the decision to deny Lord Carlile entry to an inappropriate visa.

"His intended activity in India was incompatible with the purpose of his visit as mentioned in his visa application," said Foreign Ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar.

"It was therefore decided to deny him entry into India upon arrival," he said.

The decision is expected to go down well with the Sheikh Hasina government that had not permitted the lawyer into the country, according to the NDTV report.

The British parliamentarian said he intended to hold a press conference in India "to explain the complexities in Khaleda's case to the international media community".

A high-profile lawyer who held several judicial roles, Lord Carlile was appointed to the BNP leader's legal team in March.

Khaleda has a series of criminal cases filed against her that the BNP claims are part of a plot to keep her and her family out of politics.

She was convicted in the first case in February. She was sentenced to five years for stealing $ 253,000 in foreign donations received by an orphanage trust set up when she was last prime minister, from 2001 to 2006.