Tripura village tense as man killed in BSF firing

AGARTALA - Tension escalated in a border village in south Tripura Tuesday a day after a trader was killed and his son injured in firing by a Border Security Force (BSF) trooper on a violent mob, the BSF and police said here Tuesday.

An Indian trader was killed and his son injured when a BSF jawan opened fire to disperse a mob that tried to snatch his rifle and assault him at Amzadnagar, a village along the Bangladesh border in southern Tripura, Monday evening, a BSF spokesman told reporters.

“The trouble started when the BSF trooper during routine patrolling asked a youth not to talk by mobile phone with a Bangladeshi villager,” the spokesman said. The villagers attacked the paramilitary trooper, forcing him to open fire, the spokesman added.

The family members of the victims have lodged a complaint with the police alleging that the BSF personnel shot dead Khoka Mia, 53, when he was trying to defend his daughter from alleged “molestation by the BSF troopers”.

“Khoka Mia, a small trader, was shot dead on the spot and his son sustained bullet injuries when a BSF jawan opened fire on them. Tension is high in and around the border village,” sub-divisional police officer (Belonia) Ashok Kumar Sinha told IANS by phone.

The police have set up a temporary security picket in the village to quell the tension. Senior BSF and police officials have visited the spot, 125 km south of Agartala, and an inquiry into the incident has been launched.

Shops and business establishments in and around the area shut down in protest against the firing incident.