A Border Security Force (BSF) spokesman said that around 30 to 40 Indian smugglers, violating the curfew imposed on the border, tried to smuggle contraband items to Bangladesh at Durgapur village late on Wednesday night and its troopers challenged them.
However, the mob surrounded the BSF personnel, tried to snatch their weapons, and attacked them with sharp-edged weapons, leaving three BSF men seriously injured. They also vandalised the BSF duty point and damaged surveillance equipment.
The spokesman said that sensing imminent danger to life and threat to government property, BSF troopers fired in self-defence and to disperse the violent mob. Two of the assailants were hit and one of them subsequently succumbed to his injuries.
The injured person was shifted to the hospital.
Sepahijala’s Superintendent of Police Bogati Jagadeeswar Reddy said that the villagers alleged that during the border patrolling, a scuffle between the local people and the BSF took place and the troopers fired on the villagers without any provocation.
“An impartial probe of the incident would be conducted. A forensic team visited the site and collected evidence,” he told the media after visiting the border area.
