Three suspected Bangladeshi cattle smugglers lynched in South Assam

Three suspected Bangladeshi nationals were lynched by angry locals at Bogrijan tea estate in South Assam's Karimganj district situated close to India-Bangladesh border after they allegedly tried to steal cows.

The incident took place around 3 am on Sunday inside the tea estate situated under Patharkandi police station, about 400-km from Guwahati. When police reached the spot, the three had already died due to attacks by the angry residents, who often complain of cattle theft by people from the neighbouring country.

According to police, the preliminary investigation said the victims had illegally crossed the border and tried to steal cows from inside the tea estate. "We recovered a cutter, some equipments and food items made in Bangladesh, which suggests that they are Bangladeshi nationals. But we are trying to verify their identity. We have already contacted Border Guards Bangladesh through BSF for identification of the victims," a police official in Karimganj said.

Police said the suspected Bangladeshi nationals had cut the border fence to cross the border, a statement which, however, raised the question about the vigil maintained by the BSF. The border area is thickly forested, which comes handy for the cross border criminals.

This is the second such incident since last month. Another Bangladeshi national was lynched by a mob in the area on June 1 when he allegedly entered a cattle shed inside the tea estate to steal cows.

Karimganj and Cachar district in South Assam share about the 135 km border with Bangladesh of which nearly 4 km are riverine border and have remained unfenced due to objections from the neighbouring country. Assam shares 262 km of total 4,156 km borders with Bangladesh.