Ukrainian nurse flies down to Kolkata to meet Bengal 'friend'

Kolkata : A Ukrainian woman travelled 6,000km to West Bengal's Hooghly district for meeting a friend -- an Indian shop owner, the police said on Thursday.

"Nadia Lapuchok, a 31-year-old Ukrainian woman, flew to Kolkata about a week ago and visited Arambagh to meet her friend, Prasenjit Karmakar. She checked in a local hotel. The hotel manager, who had seen them speaking, alerted us after suspecting some problem," said Krishanu Roy, SDPO, Arambag here.

The preliminary interrogation suggested that Karmakar, a shop owner, became a friend of the Ukraine-based nurse on social media two years back and gradually, their "friendship grew stronger", the police officer said.

When asked whether the lady had fallen in love with the man, and that is why she came all the way from Ukraine, he said: "There could be a possibility that she had some feelings for Karmakar and but she was unaware that he was a married man."

However, Nadia stressed that they are good friends, the officer said.

During interrogation, Karmakar revealed he had met Nadia when she visited Kolkata six months back, but "he never thought she would turn up like this to meet him again", he said.

The Ukrainian nurse, who is also "fond of Indian culture", had visited Kamarpukur, the birth place of Sri Ramkrishna, and Jayrambati, birthplace of Ma Sarada Devi.

According to the police, Nadia's visa is valid for six months.