Two BSF men killed, one injured as colleagues open fire at each other

Two BSF Jawans were killed and one was left grievously injured after a fierce exchange of bullets took place among the 20 Batallion BSF personnel at the Indo-Bangla borders in Tripura's Gomati district on Thursday.

Agartala (Tripura):At least two BSF Jawans were killed and one was left grievously injured after a fierce exchange of bullets took place among the 20 Batallion BSF personnel at the Indo-Bangla borders of the Silachari area in Tripura's Gomati district at around 5.45 pm on Thursday.

Police sources confirmed to ETV Bharat that BSF constable Pratap Singh lost his cool and went on a shooting spree after killing his colleague Havildar Satbir Singh. His superior Ram Kumar Singh sustained bullet injuries during his failed attempts to pacify Pratap Singh. When the other Jawans saw Singh turn into a life threat for all, they retaliated with counter fire leading to the latter's death.

All the Jawans, who died and received injuries, belong to the 20 Battalion BSF that was supposed to hand over the command to another battalion soon. According to local sources, constable Pratap Singh was on border patrolling with Havildar Satbir Singh when for some reason a heated altercation broke out and in a fit of rage Pratap Singh opened fire on Satbir, who died on spot.

Later, Pratap, who seemed to have lost his mind, returned to the camp and went on a shooting spree. Rattled by his extremely unexpected attitude, his superior officer Ram Kumar Singh tried to placate the situation by reaching out to him with some words, but to his utter shock, he was greeted with bullets instead. The BSF officer was then rushed to the GBP hospital in Agartala for advanced treatment

Other troopers feared they could also turn victims of their enraged colleague's fury, and they opened fire at him. It was BSF sentry Abhimanyu Yadav who gunned him down.

Soon after the incident, a team of police led by SDPO Karbook Raju Reang rushed to the spot along with other higher officials.

"We have started recording the statements of the locals and BSF jawans of the camp", said SDPO Raju Reang, adding that the corpses of the deceased were sent for autopsy.

However, the BSF higher officials could not be reached for a reaction on the matter.