A Border Security Force (BSF) constable reportedly committed suicide after killing a 60-year-old man along Tripura's border with Bangladesh following a quarrel with locals late Friday night. Eleven others including a woman received bullet injuries.
The incident happened at South Ramnagar within the municipal limits of state capital Agartala. BSF officials did not provide details of the clash but said it could have been an outcome of preventing people from snipping off barbed-wire fencing along the international border.
On Saturday, Tripura's minority affairs minister Shahid Choudhury and other CPM leaders placated locals after they staged a demonstration protesting the indiscriminate firing. "We will get to the bottom of this tragic incident," Choudhury said.
According to locals, trouble started after three BSF personnel — one in plain clothes — asked a group of young men to move from the edge of a water body near the border. This resulted in an altercation between BSF constable Sajith Kumar and local Kanu Mian.
Kumar then allegedly opened fire from his self-loading rifle as the villagers gathered around. While Kanu's father Ismail Mian was killed on the spot, 11 others were injured before Kumar reportedly shot himself.
{{/usCountry}}Kumar then allegedly opened fire from his self-loading rifle as the villagers gathered around. While Kanu's father Ismail Mian was killed on the spot, 11 others were injured before Kumar reportedly shot himself.
{{/usCountry}}South Ramnagar had been tense since a few weeks over allegations that two BSF personnel had tried to molest a newly-wed woman in her house.
The BSF has faced criticism over killing of border residents elsewhere in the state too. In 2011, a youth was shot in the Kailashahar area of North Tripura. Another was killed at Belonia in South Tripura the following year.
Read:Tripura govt orders magisterial inquiry into clash