Agartala: A suspected cattle lifter, who was reportedly a Bangladeshi national, was lynched at Kamal Nagar village in Boxanagar of Tripura’s Sepahijala district. According to police, the youth is a resident of Bangladesh and crossed the international border to steal the cattle.
“Three persons reportedly entered the village to steal a cow on Saturday late night. We seized Bangladeshi currency and mobile phone from his possession”, a policeman said.
Police said that as per preliminary investigation when the trio entered the village to steal cattle, villagers caught them, but two of them somehow managed to escape and one has been lynched by the mob.
However, the name of the deceased is yet to be identified. Villagers said that they came to steal cattle from a house of one Litan Paul, who was also injured after the cattle lifters attacked him, and he is now undergoing treatment at GB Pant Hospital in Agartala.
They also informed that the incident took place at around 2 pm and the cattle lifter breathed his last when he was beaten up by the crowd. Later, police sent the body for autopsy and registered a case.
Also read: Tripura police nab drug kingpin Nahid Miah
Tripura, which shares a semi-porous border with Bangladesh, is also witnessing the smuggling of contraband items and cattle. The state, which shares an 856 km international border, is still unfenced in several patches. Before erecting the fence, smuggling of cattle and contraband was a regular problem, especially near the bordering village.
According to BSF sources in 2019, they seized cattle worth Rs.1.60 crore while smuggling them to Bangladesh. In May this year, the BSF seized 24 cows from Sepahijala district of the state.
A BSF official on a condition of anonymity said smugglers use the Sonamura sub-division under Sepahijala district of Tripura to smuggle the cattle, however, the number has decreased significantly due to strict vigil of the BSF jawans.
At present, there is a total of five Cattle Haats in the state, including Sonamura Old Motorstand (Sepahijala district), Gournagar (Unakoti District), Barpathari (South district), East Kadamtala (North district) and Karbook Bazar (Gomati District).
