Author: Samudra Gupta Kashyap &
Imran Ahmed Siddiqui
Publication: The Indian Express
Date: April 22, 2005
URL: http://www.indianexpress.com/archive_full_story.php?content_id=68865
Warned by New Delhi, Dhaka has promised
to probe the killing last Saturday of BSF assistant commandant Jiwan Kumar
at Lankamura on Tripura's border with Bangladesh. But in the village of
Lankamura and in the BSF camp, they are convinced that there's very little
to probe.
Jiwan Kumar was targeted, they maintain,
because he had repeatedly foiled attempts to push people into India illegally.
In the last two years, he had become a big hurdle for local smugglers.
''There's no doubt there was a conspiracy
to lure Jiwan Kumar into Bangladesh. It was cold blooded murder, nothing
else,'' says S K Dutta, IG, BSF. ''It's very difficult to deal with the
BDR (Bangladesh Rifles). They have no value for human norms,'' he says.
And in Kolkata, 27-year-old BSF
jawan Benu Kumar-he was shot in the shoulder when he tried to go to Jiwan
Kumar's rescue and is now being treated at the SSKM Hospital-told The Indian
Express: ''They dragged him (Jiwan Kumar) away and attacked him with sharp
weapons before gunning him down. Later, they threw his body.''
''They started firing when we tried
to rescue him (Jiwan Kumar). I was shot in the shoulder. I ran but collapsed
after some time. I do not remember how I survived.'' Benu Kumar was operated
upon today at the SSKM and a bullet was removed.
In Lankamura, Jiwan Kumar was known
as Khokan Saheb. Nitai Pal, who lives in the village, recalls: ''We watched
from our side of the border how Khokan Saheb and six-seven BSF jawans fought
a gunbattle against some 200 BDR personnel for over four hours.''
According to Nitai Pal, Jiwan Kumar
rushed to the border when he was told that 55-year-old Ramdhan Pal, who
had bought four bighas adjoining the border recently, had been abducted
by Bangladeshis.
''Khokan Saheb was playing volleyball
with his men when a woman and a boy from our village ran to the BSF post
to inform them about the abduction. He was in his PT gear. He picked up
his revolver and asked six-seven jawans to follow him,'' says Nitai.
Lankamura is near border pillar
No 2022/3S and, according to the villagers, two persons from Bangladesh
had dragged Ramdhan Pal across the zero line.
Once Jiwan Kumar was at the border,
his BDR counterpart asked him to ''come in'' to discuss Ramdhan Pal's case.
During flag meetings, officers from both sides interact freely at the border.
Jiwan Kumar hardly suspected a trap. Says a senior BSF officer, ''As soon
as he stepped across, he was surrounded by a a group of villagers and the
BDR accused him of trespassing. Within minutes, the BDR opened fire, forcing
our men to take position and retaliate.''
While Benu Kumar was shot in the
shoulder, Jiwan Kumar and another jawan, K K Surendra, found themselves
on the Bangladeshi side as they tried to dive for cover. According to BSF
officials, the BDR had lined up some 200 men who went on firing for over
four hours.
Around 7.45 pm, BSF DIG R K Chaudhuri
managed to contact the Comilla-based Sector Commander Jahangir Alam and
told him to direct his men to stop firing. The BDR officer told him that
the BSF could proceed to the Akhaura check-post and collect the bodies
of two persons who had been killed in crossfire.
But when BSF officials reached the
Akhaura post, some 4 km from Lankamura, BDR officials there told them that
they had no bodies to hand over. They suggested a joint search which began
around 9 pm.
Jiwan Kumar's body was found around
midnight. K K Surendra lay unconscious, given up for dead by his assailants.
Though the BDR maintains that Jiwan Kumar died in the crossfire, his body
bore multiple injury marks other than two bullet wounds. He had been struck
with daos (machetes) and there were boot marks all over. This, BSF officials
say, cannot be a crossfire casualty.
Ramdhan Pal, the man who had been
dragged away from Lankamura, was returned unharmed the next day.
