Dhaka on Thursday contradicted the Indian Border Security Force's statement that the Bangladesh Rifles had taken back the 213 illegal migrants stranded on the border in West Bengal's Cooch Behar district.

Bangladesh Foreign Secretary Shamsher Mobin Chowdhury said in Dhaka that the government had 'no evidence or information' about the people who had entered Bangladeshi territory.

"We have no knowledge of the India claim," he said.

The minister said the BDR and BSF could hold a meeting 'in a day or two to settle the standoff'.

BSF Inspector General K C Sharma had said in the West Bengal town of Siliguri that the group was taken back 'sometime between 2 am and 4 am' on Thursday.

"We wanted them to take back the illegal migrants in the presence of the media, but they did it clandestinely in darkness," he said, while dismissing suggestions that the immigrants could have entered India. "There is no such possibility. We are absolutely alert to such situations."

The group, said to consist of 40 families of snake charmers, was stranded on the border for six days before vanishing .

They left behind things like clothing, dolls and utensils, sparking speculations that they were made to leave in a hurry.

While Dhaka and New Delhi made claims and counterclaims, tension on the border eased with the two countries' guards moving away more than 150 yards from the 'zero line'.

But the BSF and BDR had increased the number of guards along the 522-km Cooch Behar sector.

India shares a 4900-km-long frontier with Bangladesh.