COOCH BEHAR/KOLKATA: Three men — two suspected Bangladeshi nationals and a 35-year-old Indian citizen — were killed after BSF personnel fired at cattle smugglers on the India-Bangladesh border in Cooch Behar district’s Sitai early on Friday. Officials said a jawan too was wounded as the “miscreants” attacked the BSF guards when told to give in, forcing the personnel to shoot in “self-defence”.
BSF initially said its troopers had found two bodies of unknown miscreants between the border fence and the international boundary. But state police officers insisted from the morning that a third person — an Indian citizen named Prakash Barman — had died. BSF officers confirmed the death of an “Indian citizen” hours later.
A few hours prior to the border firing, Union home secretary Ajay Bhalla met senior state government officials, including the chief secretary, the home secretary and the director general of police, in Kolkata, 730 km south from the point of the skirmish.
BSF initially said its troopers had found two bodies of unknown miscreants between the border fence and the international boundary. But state police officers insisted from the morning that a third person — an Indian citizen named Prakash Barman — had died. BSF officers confirmed the death of an “Indian citizen” hours later.
A few hours prior to the border firing, Union home secretary Ajay Bhalla met senior state government officials, including the chief secretary, the home secretary and the director general of police, in Kolkata, 730 km south from the point of the skirmish.
