Three suspected cattle thieves from Chunarughat of Habiganj were killed by a mob in Tripura’s Khowai city early yesterday. Border Security Force regretted the incident and said they would take legal action against those responsible.
The victims are Siddiq Ali, 60, of Hapter Haor under Gazipur Union of Chunarughat, Anwar Mia, 30, of Manikbhandar village, and Shundor Ali, 40, of Osmanpur village under the same upazila. Two of their cohorts were also injured but escaped.
The five were caught by locals in Gouranagar Majumder Tila area of Khowai – some six kilometres inside Tripura border – when they had gone there to lift cattle, said Lt Col Saif Uddin Kawser, commanding officer of BGB 14 Battalion.
To escape from the mob, they climbed a tree but were hacked and beaten to death, he added.
A company-level flag meeting between the BGB and the BSF was held around noon. High officials of the two frontiers sat again around 2pm. The BSF said the bodies had been kept at Khowai police station after post mortem examination and would be handed over today.
Terming the incident unfortunate, they also assured the BGB of taking legal action against the accused under Indian law.