Police of Bihar and North Dinajpur district in Bengal have registered separate cases in connection with the Friday firing and begun probes.

On Friday, policemen of Kishanganj district in Bihar had opened fire and taken away Nur Alam, a youth from Bilatibari village under Chakulia police station limits.

Kishanganj police claimed they arrested Nur, wanted in connection with a theft case, from a locality within their jurisdiction. However, the police of Islampur police district said the Bihar police had entered Bengal without informing them. Chakulia police station falls under Islampur police district and Bilatibari village is only 5km from the interstate border.

“During preliminary probe, we recovered three empty cartridges from Bilatibari under our jurisdiction. Nur Alam’s family filed a complaint with us based on which a case was filed with Chakulia police. Investigation is in progress,” said Rabindranath Biswas, the subdivisional police officer of Dalkhola, also under Islampur police district.

Although the police said that three empty cartridges were recovered, villagers claimed cops from Bihar fired at least five rounds.

Sagar Kumar, the superintendent of police of Kishanganj, the district in Bihar which shares borders with Bengal, however, said the incident took place within Bihar.

“We are probing the entire incident. A detailed press release has been issued from our end,” Kumar said over the phone.

The Bhira police press release said that a police team from Bihar intercepted Nur, whose name came up in a theft case, near an Idgah in Daula panchayat area of Kishanganj. As they were about to arrest him, a crowd from Bilatibari reached the spot and attacked the cops, some of whom got injured. The cops fired in self-defence.

Two rounds were fired in the air to disperse the mob, the release said, differing from the findings of the Bengal cops and accounts of villagers.

District Trinamool president Kanaialal Agarwala accused the Bihar police of resorting to an unprovoked attack. “Such an attack by the Bihar police on the pretext of arresting a person will not be tolerated. We have informed the Bengal government,” said Agarwala.