A sepoy belonging to the Border Guard Bangladesh, a paramilitary force responsible for the security of the neighbouring country’s frontier, was allegedly shot dead by the BSF during the early hours of Tuesday morning.

The BSF said the deceased, Mohammed Raisuddin, 35, was involved in cattle smuggling and sneaked into the Indian territory near Sutia of Bongaon in North 24-Parganas along with smugglers. The BSF said they attacked the on-duty BSF personnel in a bid to take away a cattle herd through an unfenced stretch of the India-Bangladesh border.

“Our jawans spotted the gang and tried to prevent the smuggling attempt. But the smugglers armed with sharp weapons retaliated when one of our jawans opened fire in self-defence in which one person was killed while others managed to flee,” A.K.Arya, BSF’s South Bengal Frontier spokesperson and Deputy Inspector General, told The Telegraph.

According to him, a BSF team traced him lying injured at about 5am and rushed him to the Bongaon subdivisional hospital, where he succumbed to the injuries later.

“It is not just shocking, rather beyond our imagination that a BGB jawan could be with the smugglers and sneak into the Indian territory wearing a lungi and T-shirt to smuggle cattle,” said Arya.

The identity of the smuggler as a BGB jawan came to light only after the Bangladesh authorities called the BSF officials and informed them that one of its personnel had gone “missing”. A flag meeting was held later when the BGB authorities shared the picture of the “missing” jawan, who was attached to the Jessore-based 49-Battalion of the BGB, and it matched with the lungi and T-shirt-clad “smuggler” gunned down by the BSF.

A BSF source said a team attached to the Sutia outpost spotted a group of four smugglers at about 4.30am on Tuesday.

When asked if the BSF authorities suspect the involvement of other BGB jawans with the smuggling racket, a senior BSF official said: “It is quite suspicious...How can a BGB jawan move with the smugglers unless he was involved in smuggling activities?”.

Senior BSF officers inCalcutta said that thematter was serious and they informed the Union ministry of home affairs about the incident.

Bangladeshi media reported that the BGB authorities demanded a proper investigation and sent a “protest note” to the BSF.