Agartala: A BSF jawan was lynched after a man was killed in firing by border guards as they came under attack from villagers while chasing smugglers close to the Indo-Bangladesh border in Tripura, but the villagers gave a different account of the events.
When the BSF personnel were chasing smugglers last night, villagers of South Ramnagar attacked the border guards with lathis and choppers, BSF DIG B S Rawat said on Saturday.
The BSF personnel initially fired in the air to disperse the mob and then opened fire in self defence in which a villager, Ismail Mia, was killed and ten persons were injured in the village two kilometre from the border, the DIG said.
“Our jawans opened fire in self defence in which one villager died and ten others were injured. In a retaliatory attack, one BSF jawan, Sandeep Kumar, was lynched by the local inhabitants,” Rawat said.
Superintendent of Police (Police Control) Uttam Bhowmick said “Ismail Mia died of bullet injuries. So it is presumed that he was killing in firing by the BSF.”
Asked about the lynching of the BSF man, Bhowmick said “He had head injuries and cut marks on his body.” West Tripura District Magistrate Abhishek Singh, who visited the area, said a magisterial level inquiry was ordered into the incident.
“The result would be known after the inquiry is over. Stern action would be taken if anybody is found guilty. No one will be spared,” Singh told.
Bhanu Mia, the son of the villager who was killed, lodged an FIR lodged at the West Agartala police station against the border guards in which he said that the villagers were sitting near a pond following load-shedding when two BSF personnel on patrol came up to them and an altercation followed.
Local CPI(M) MLA Ratan Das alleged that septuagenarian Ismail Mia was hit with the butt of a rifle and shot dead.
The jawans then allegedly opened fire in which 10 villagers were injured, Das said.
The injured were admitted to the G B Pant Hospital, hospital sources said. Minority Welfare minister Shahid Chowdhury also visited the area and said that the injured would be povided free treatment. (PTI)
