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Shubhadeep Choudhury
Tribune News Service
Kolkata, September 14
A BSF jawan on Thursday lost his life at Gaighata area in North 24 Parganas district of West Bengal when he was hit by a car being used for smuggling of cows across the international border with Bangladesh.
BSF sources said five small cows were loaded inside an Indica car by the traffickers thinking that the vehicle would not arouse any suspicion since a car is not considered the right sort of vehicle for transportation of bovines.
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However, Tushar Kanti Das, a BSF head constable belonging to the 64 battalion of the paramilitary force, sensed something was amiss and challenged the driver.
The driver knocked him down but in the process also lost control of the vehicle which hit a roadside barrier and stopped.
While one of the cows died in the crash, the driver managed to flee.
Arindam Mukherjee, officer-in-charge of the Gaighata police station, told this reporter that he had received information about a BSF jawan getting killed in an accident but was not aware of the details.
Mukherjee also said he had not received any written complaint from the BSF regarding the incident as yet.
However, RPS Jaisawal, DIG and BSF spokesperson, confirmed the incident and said the process to register an FIR had been initiated by the BSF.
A cattle market in Panchpeta under Gaighata police station area operates illegally violating the government norms.
The cattle market is located within 3-5 km of the border outpost. Instances of cattle smuggling through this markets are rampant.
The BSF has written several times to the West Bengal Government to implement the state government’s own policy that says no cattle market can operate within eight km of the Indo-Bangla international border.
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