TURA: Residents of Belabor border village in West Garo Hills have lodged an FIR against the BSF for opening fire on the locals whom they allegedly passed off as cattle thieves resulting in bullet injuries to two persons on Friday morning.
The BSF had claimed, in a hastily released press statement the same day, that its troops from the 75 Battalion led by its own commandant intercepted cattle thieves attempting to smuggle livestock in broad daylight at Kachwa Dogre (actual name Kochu Adokgre) border village near Purakhasia.
The paramilitary force further claimed that they resorted to firing after villagers attacked them with stones and other objects in an attempt to shield the smugglers.
However, the villagers from Kochu Adokgre and nearby Belabor have revealed a completely different picture of the incident.
They say that the BSF team orchestrated the cattle smuggling story to score brownie points with their superiors in Shillong.
According to the villagers, BSF troops in two Maruti Gypsy cars and a Bolero vehicle, led by their commandant, were spotted lying in wait in a secluded spot of a MGNREGA village road in Balabor area, away from their border jurisdiction, around 9 AM.
A villager from Belabor, Anil S Sangma, who was passing through the road was pulled aside and questioned about cattle smuggling and later let off.
Later, the same group of troopers reportedly moved towards the Kochu Adokgre road, 3 kms from Purakhasia, where they found Belabor Nokma’s son Namseng Ch Sangma keeping a watch over six heads of cattle belonging to the family.
Accusing the headman’s son of trying to smuggle the herd out to neighbouring Bangladesh, the troopers began rounding up the cattle when angry villagers from Belabor rushed to the scene.
Despite giving an explanation about the ownership of the herd, the troopers allegedly refused to budge leading to an altercation during which the troops opened fire injuring Namseng and another villager, Dipuish N Marak. Police officers and a magistrate later arrived at the spot and villagers narrated their ordeal and later filed a complaint demanding action against the paramilitary force involved in the firing incident.
This is the second instance in which BSF troops from the same battalion have been accused of illegally seizing cattle from border residents on the pretext of cattle smuggling.
A week earlier, troops had confiscated six heads of cattle belonging to a village elder of Purakhasia which were grazing in a field. The owner, Boleswar Koch, later filed a police complaint against the troops and the BSF was compelled to release the animals after a probe revealed that it rightfully belonged to him.
