Bullet-ridden body of Bangladesh teen found along Indo-Bangla border in Tripura handed over to BGB
According to sources, the 16-year-old girl was a part of a large group of people who were trying to flee Bangladesh and enter India illegally.
The deceased was identified as Swarna Das, 16, of Moulovibazar district of Bangladesh. (Express Archives) The Tripura Police and the Border Security Force (BSF) on Tuesday jointly handed over the body of a minor girl, whose bullet-ridden body was found dead near the Laitapura Border Outpost (BOP) along the Indo-Bangla international border in Kailashahar of Tripura’s Unakoti district, to the Border Guards Bangladesh (BGB) and Bangladesh Police authorities, officials informed the media.
Speaking to reporters, officials from Irani police station at Kailashahar said, “We recovered the body near Laitapura BOP on the intervening night of Sunday and Monday upon receiving information from the BSF. We sent the body for a post-mortem examination.
After the post-mortem examination was over, the deceased girl’s father from Bangladesh identified her body. We, from the police, and the BSF have handed over the body to the BGB and the Bangladesh Police officers this (Tuesday) evening.”
The deceased was identified as Swarna Das, 16, of Moulovibazar district of Bangladesh.
According to sources, she was a part of a large group of people who were trying to flee Bangladesh and enter India illegally. She reportedly died from a bullet wound. However, which side the bullet was fired from still remains unknown. “We found a bullet wound on her. It is still under investigation how it happened,” an officer from the Irani police station, who didn’t wish to be named, told the media.
Das’ body was found lying around 50 metre outside the border fence, close to the zero point near border pillar number 57. Soon after it was spotted, personnel from the 199 battalion BSF informed the local police station.
A team comprising Additional SP (Unakoti), Sub-Divisional Police Officer (SDPO) of Kailashahar, Jayanta Karmakar, Irani police station Officer-in-Charge Arunoday Das and BSF officers recovered the body and sent it for post-mortem examination.
The infiltrations come even as the vigil along the international border has been tightened following assurances from the central government that the nation’s borders are well protected and no illegal immigration would be allowed in the wake of violence in Bangladesh, especially in the context of the recent turbulence in the neighbouring country.
Patel Piyush Purushottam Das, BSF Tripura frontier Inspector General, recently visited the riverine border with gaps in fencing and took stock of the steps from field commanders to ensure security in those areas and stressed on using non-lethal weapons to prevent the trans-border smuggling and sensitized them about the current situation.
The BSF had apprehended seven Bangladeshi nationals and two suspected Indian touts in a joint operation with the Tripura Police on September 1.
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