BSF officer, attacked by cattle smugglers in Tripura, dies

Agartala, Oct 20 (IANS) An officiating Commandant of the Border Security Force (BSF), who was seriously injured in an attack by cattle smugglers in Tripura on Sunday night, succumbed to his injuries on Friday at a hospital in Kolkata, BSF sources here said.

"Officiating Commandant Deepak Kumar Mondal of 145th Battalion of BSF has expired in a private hospital in Kolkata on Friday. His body is expected to be cremated on Saturday at his ancestral village at Hanskhali in Nadia district," a BSF official told IANS.

BSF troopers led by Mondal were guarding the border along Bangladesh to prevent cattle smuggling late on Sunday night at Balerdepha under the Sonamura sub-division in western Tripura's Sepahijala district. Suddenly, a speeding vehicle of cattle smugglers came and hit the 45-year-old BSF officer, pushing him down a gorge. He sustained grievous injuries in the hit.

Mondal, accompanied by a BSF doctor, was flown to Kolkata on Monday and admitted to a private hospital there. His condition was very critical and he was under treatment in the Intensive Care Unit of the hospital.

Tripura Police on Monday seized the vehicle and arrested the driver and are looking for two more assailants.

On April 16, 2005, BSF's Assistant Commandant Jeevan Kumar was dragged into Bangladesh territory by a group of smugglers while supervising security at Lankamura, on the outskirts of the capital city, and was knifed before being shot dead.

The mutilated body of the young BSF official was returned the next day after a fierce exchange of fire between the BSF and Bangladesh Rifles (now Border Guards Bangladesh).

Tripura shares a 856-km border with Bangladesh, with large parts of the border being riverine, mountainous and unfenced, which helps illegal immigrants, intruders and smugglers to cross over easily.

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