UP Minister Azam Khan detained briefly at US airport

According to sources familiar with the incident, Khan was detained for about 10 minutes for "further questioning" at Boston Logan International Airport on Thursday after he landed in a scheduled British Airways flight from India.

The Urban Development Minister is in the US along with Yadav to attend a symposium on South Asia at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where they presented a study on the world famous "Kumbh Mela" held at Allahabad.

The sources said that when the visiting team landed at the airport, the Immigration and Border Protection officials accorded due courtesy and respect at the arrival point and even helped them in filling the arrival forms for entry into the US.

They were received and escorted by the officials of the Consulate General of India in New York and after they were cleared for entry, a woman officer of the US Customs and Border Protection wing of the Homeland Security took Khan to an adjacent room "for further questioning." The extended interview lasted for ten minutes and the Minister was then cleared.