A constable of the Border Security Force (BSF) shot dead two of his colleagues in north Bengal Indo-Bangladesh border late at night on Monday in another case of fratricide in paramilitary forces.
The accused surrendered a few hours later and was handed over to the police.
“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 Indo-Bangladesh border under Raiganj police station in North Dinajpur district at night on Monday.
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.
On Monday night, at around 11:50 pm, Sutradhar fired two rounds in the air from his service rifle. When Bhatti and Kumar rushed to the spot, Sutradhar opened fire on them and killed them on the spot.
“The company commander reached the spot and the constable surrendered to him at around 3 am. 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.❑
The Hindustan Times
