3 Bangladeshis lynched in Assam

Three Bangladeshi nationals, who had allegedly crossed the border in Assam’s Karimganj district illegally, to steal cows from villages adjoining the India-Bangladesh border were killed by a group of locals late on Saturday night, police said.

Kumar Sanjit Krishna, SP of Karimganj, said in a written statement, “Three unknown suspected Bangladeshi nationals were killed last night by some unknown miscreants at Bogrijan tea estate under Patharkandi police station.”

“On enquiry, it is revealed that they said Bangladeshi nationals crossed the border with a motive to steal cows from the Bogrijan area,” Krishna added.

A rope, fence-cutter and wires - apart from food items - have been recovered from the dead men, police said. Follow-up actions regarding handing over the bodies and investigations have been started, Krishna said.

Officials said the border area in this part of Karimganj is dotted with thick forests and tea gardens. The area is near to the Patharia reserve forest, which, research says, sees a transnational movement of a herd of elephants.

On June 1, a 42-year-old Bangladeshi man, an alleged cattle smuggler, was lynched by villagers in the same area in Karimganj. The incident had occurred after a group of six smugglers - four Bangladeshis and two Indians - tried stealing cows from a house in the Putni tea estate, a few kilometres away from the Indo-Bangla border.

In August last year, a Bangladeshi cattle smuggler was shot dead in an encounter by the Border Security Force (BSF) on the India-Bangladesh border in Karimganj. The BSF and the police had then said that the incident happened when more than 30 Bangladeshis were trying to enter India to steal cows and smuggle.

Source: The Indian Express