A Bangladeshi national was shot dead by a patrolling team of the Border Security Force (BSF) in Nadia’s Krishnaganj while trying to foil an alleged cattle-rustling bid by armed persons early on Sunday.

BSF sources said its jawan was compelled to open fire in self-defence as the armed group attacked the force with sharp weapons after the jawans fired in air with non-lethal guns to disperse them.

This comes a month after a meeting in Delhi between Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her Indian counterpart Narendra Modi, where they vowed to work

together to bring the number of border killings down to zero.

A BSF spokesperson for south Bengal frontier in Calcutta said: “Our jawans have shown immense bravery and intelligence, not only in self-defence but also in stopping the cattle-rustling bid.... They had to open fire to save their own lives, which killed a suspected Bangladeshi miscreant,” he added.

The identity of the slain Bangladeshi could not be ascertained by the BSF. Local sources said the victim was a resident of Chhoto Baldia village in Chuadanga of Bangladesh.

The BSF handed over the body and the seized cattle to Krishnaganj police.

A body of an unidentified Bangladeshi national was found close to the India-Bangladesh border in Basirhat of North 24-Parganas.

BSF officials ruled out any incident of firing in that area.