Two BSF personnel shot dead by colleague in West Bengal

[The Ronin]

A constable of the Indian Border Security Force (BSF) shot dead two of his colleagues at Raigunj area of North Dinajpur district of the eastern Indian state of West Bengal on Tuesday in another case of fratricide in paramilitary forces.

The accused surrendered a few hours later and was handed over to the police, reports Hindusthan Times.

“Inspector Mahendra Singh Bhatti and Constable Anuj Kumar were shot dead by Constable Uttam Sutradhar. They died on the spot. Sutradhar surrendered before the company commander a few hours later,” said Sumit Kumar, superintendent of police (SP), Uttar Dinajpur district.

The three BSF personnel were on duty along the India-Bangladesh border under Raiganj police station. They were attached to the Maldakhand border outpost of BSF’s 146 battalion.

While Sutradhar belongs to Tripura, slain Bhatti and Kumar hailed from Punjab and Uttar Pradesh, respectively.

Even though a senior police officer said that Sutradhar had some grievances against some BSF officers, which could have led to the fratricide, the paramilitary authorities are yet to ascertain the cause of the incident.

According to BSF, Sutradhar was on duty at the border outpost at Maldakhand border when he suddenly opened fire. Several districts of West Bengal, including Malda, Murshidabad, Dinajpur, shares a large border with Bangladesh.

“The company commander reached the spot and the constable surrendered to him at around 3am. The victims neither had any quarrel nor scuffle with the accused. The cause of firing will be ascertained after the conduct of a probe,” said Rajeev Ranjan Sharma, deputy inspector- general (DIG) BSF, North Bengal Frontier.

The bodies were sent for post-mortem examination and Sutradhar was handed over to the police, he added.

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