India hands over bodies of ‘cattle lifters’ to Bangladesh

India has handed over to Bangladesh bodies of suspected cattle lifters who were killed in mob lynching in Tripura on Tuesday.

Commandant of 10th Battalion of Border Security Force (BSF) A K Vidarthi and Deputy Commandant Bijendra Bajpai handed over the bodies of the deceased to Sector Commander Md Nassir Uddin of 46th Battalion of Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) on Thursday evening.

After the post-mortem examination, the bodies of three ‘cattle thieves’ from Bangladesh, who were lynched by irate villagers, were handed over after a commandant-level flag meeting between BSF and BGB.

Khowai Sub-Divisional Magistrate Samit Roy Chowdhury, Sub-Divisional Police Officer Jyotishman Das Choudhury from the Tripura state administration were also present there while from Bangladesh, Maulana Tajul Islam, Chairman of Gajipur Union under Habiganj's Chunarughat was there.

Speaking to media, Tajul Islam claimed that the trio were not cattle lifters but had entered India to buy cattle.

However, according to eyewitnesses, a group of Bangladeshi cattle thieves had entered Gopalnagar village in Khowai district in the early hours of Tuesday.

When the villagers chased them, most of the intruders managed to cross over to Bangladesh. Three were caught and two of them hacked to death on the spot by angry villagers.

Later another Bangladeshi, who was seriously injured in the mob attack, succumbed to his injuries in a hospital.

Meantime, Bhanu Debbarma, a 60-year-old villager, was injured when the fleeing Bangladeshi thieves fired at the villagers.

Police said the deceased men were from Bangladesh's Habiganj district.

This was the second such incident this year in the Khowai district. Three suspected Bangladeshi cattle thieves were lynched in Gournagar area Apr 6.