AGARTALA, June 22 - A cattle smuggler was shot dead by BSF troops near the Indo-Bangla international border in Sepahijala district of Tripura on Saturday, the police said.
Sonamura Sub-Divisional Police Officer (SDPO) Souvik Dey told reporters that one Sharif Miah alias Tuhin (25), from Putia village in Kamthana area of Sonamura, was challenged while smuggling cattle into the neighbouring country by BSF personnel of the 74 Battalion deployed along the India-Bangladesh border in the area.
�A group of people breached the Indo-Bangla fence in the early hours this morning to smuggle cattle. Vijay Kumar, a BSF constable, challenged them. But the smugglers attacked him with sharp weapons. The personnel shot them in the legs with a non-lethal weapon. The victim had stooped low, got hit in the chest and died,� the SDPO said.
A senior BSF officer from the Tripura Frontier said their personnel opened fire from a non-lethal pump action gun to incapacitate the smugglers since they had mounted an attack on him. �The aim was to immobilise and incapacitate them. Unfortunately, a smuggler died accidentally,� the official said. � PTI
