Suspected cattle smuggler shot dead by BSF at WB border

Dinhata/ Guwahati, December 24 dmanewsdesk: A suspected cattle smuggler was shot dead by BSF at the India-Bangladesh border in West Bengal’s Coochbehar district in the early hours of Thursday, police said.

The death triggered a war of words between the ruling TMC and the opposition BJP with the saffron party asserting that the incident justified the Centre’s decision to enhance the jurisdiction of BSF at the international border.

The TMC stuck to its contention that enhancement of BSF’s jurisdiction is against the federal structure of the country.

Police said the BSF opened fire on a group of 15-20 suspected cattle smugglers around 2.30 am at Kashimghat in Gitaldah border outpost area of Dinhata when they tried to snatch the INSAS rifles from the security personnel.

The force used a pump-action gun to intercept the smugglers and fired six rounds in self defence, the officer said.

A BSF spokesperson in Guwahati said a suspected smuggler was shot at and sent to the hospital with bullet wounds.

The area is under the jurisdiction of the BSF Guwahati Frontier.

“The firing injured Lutpar Rahaman, a resident of Gitaldaha block II. He was shifted to the hospital by BSF, where he died. Rahman is a known cattle smuggler of the area,” a senior police officer of Coochbehar district said.

A BSF personnel was also injured in the scuffle, he said.

“Last month too a similar incident took place at Indo-Bangla border when two Bangladeshi smugglers were shot by BSF. We don’t know what happened today, so we won’t comment on today’s incidents. But we can say one thing for sure – the situation prevailing in the border areas of West Bengal only justifies the Centre’s decision to enhance the jurisdiction of the BSF,” a senior BJP leader said.

The ruling TMC, which too declined to comment on the incident, had repeatedly disapproved the Centre’s decision to extend BSF’s jurisdiction from 15 km to 50 km from the international boundary in several states.

The BSF’s job is to secure the border. The enhancement of BSF’s jurisdiction is against the country’s federal structure. The Centre has taken this decision to interfere in the jurisdiction of the state,” TMC state general secretary Kunal Ghosh said.

A Bangladeshi national was killed on Wednesday when BSF personnel fired to thwart a narcotics smuggling bid along the international border in Malda district of West Bengal, a senior police official said.

In November, three persons, including two Bangladeshi smugglers, were shot down by the BSF along the border in Coochbehar district of the state during an operation by BSF to thwart an alleged cattle smuggling bid, the police said.

The BSF had, however, asserted that two Bangladeshis were shot dead at Sitai in Coochbehar district when they attacked a patrol party which had stopped them from smuggling cattle.

There was no clarity on the death of a third person, it said.

Source: PTI