BSF constable injured by cattle smugglers

KOLKATA: A Border Security Force head constable received serious head injuries after being attacked by suspected cattle smugglers from Bangladesh, along the international border under BOP Angrail in North 24-Parganas, on Tuesday night.

Around 10.30pm, a BSF patrol party was attacked by 20-30 miscreants when they tried to stop cattleheads from being taken across the border into Bangladesh. The injured head constable, identified as has been identified as Ajit Singh. He has been admitted to a hospital in Bongaon. After the attack, the BSF succeeded in nabbing a miscreant who turned out to be a Bangladeshi national and seized 15 heads of cattle from the spot.

“We have lodged a protest with Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) after the incident. Had they been alert, criminals from that country would not have managed to cross over and smuggle back cattle,” a BSF officer said.

The BSF is now planning to adopt a new strategy to curb cattle-smuggling along the Indo-Bangla border in West Bengal. “We have already tried out the scheme in Murshidabad and it has been a success. Along with local police, we make efforts to stop the movement of cattle towards the border villages on the Indian side, from where they are taken across the border at night. The BSF and police teams are also carrying out raids at the assembly points where the smugglers meet. We have had results. There has been a nearly 80% drop in cattle smuggling in that region since the first week of February. We plan to extend this strategy to other sectors like Nadia and North 24-Parganas,” the officer said.

It is primarily cattle smuggling that has led to tension between the BSF and the BGB in the past. Cattle is brought to West Bengal from states like Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and Gujarat. They are taken to the border and sent across by smugglers. BSF personnel are attacked when an attempt is made to nab the smugglers.

Jail breaker caught by locals, handed over to police

KOLKATA: A prisoner, who had escaped from Dum Dum central jail in November last year, was caught by residents of Saharpur in North 24-Parganas on Monday night. more than three months after he had escaped with four others from a prison van.

Suman Bhadra, was later arrested by Ghola police.

Bhadra had escaped from jail with four fellow inmates – Altaf Gaji, Saidul Sekh, Bishwanath Sardar and Baban Majumdar. The five were being brought back to the jail in a prison van from Barasat district court. As the van got stuck in a traffic jam on Jessore Road near the airport’s gate no 2.5, the prisoners escaped after removing a wooden plank on the van’s floor. An assistant-sub-inspector and three constables inside the prison van were suspended for negligence of duty.

According to a local resident, Bhadra returned to his home at Muragacha in Ghola a few days ago after he went into hiding since escaping . He again engaged in crime.

“He was threatening some local businessman, demanding extortion money from them. But police could not trace him as he was operating the crimes from a hideout at Ghola,” a local resident said.

On Monday night, some local residents found a man loitering in front of a deserted house at Saharpur in Ghola. They rushed to him before he tried to flee the spot. Locals caught him and identified him as Suman Bhadra, the escapee prisoner. On being informed, a team from Ghola police station reached the spot and arrested Bhadra.

“Bhadra had earlier been arrested as a drug peddler. We are also looking for four other escapees and Bhadra is being interrogated in this connection,” a senior police official said.

BSF jawan dies after attack by cattle smugglers

KOLKATA: A Border Security Force (BSF) jawan of the South Bengal Frontier died at SSKM Hospital on Tuesday. The jawan was attacked by cattle smugglers along the international border at Swaroopnagar in North 24-Parganas on Saturday. Head constable Sartaj Singh was a resident of Gari Ram Dhan village in the Jaswant Nagar Tehsil of Etawa in Uttar Pradesh. His body was sent back to his family on Tuesday after a wreath laying ceremony.

The incident occurred around 4am on Saturday when Singh and other jawans of the 152 Bn of the BSF were patrolling the border near the Gobardah outpost. Nearly 100 cattle smugglers, including Bangladeshi nationals, attacked the jawans. TNNTwo of them, including Singh, sustained serious injuries and were admitted to SSKM Hospital. Three Bangladeshi nationals were apprehended from the spot and 32 heads of cattle seized.

“Between January 1, 2011 and February 7, 2012, there have been 52 attacks on BSF jawans along the South Bengal Frontier alone. The situation has worsened after criminals became aware that the BSF jawans have been ordered not to use lethal weapons,” an official said.

25-year-old commits suicide

KOLKATA: A 25-year-old woman committed suicide by hanging herself from the ceiling fan at her Girish Park residence on Thursday evening. The victim, identified as Juli Chatterjee, used a dupatta to hang herself.

Juli had reportedly taken a loan, because of which she was depressed. She left behind a suicide note in which she did not blame anyone for her death.with her Dopatta on Thursday evening at her Girish Park residence.

Police said Juli Chatterjee, the victim was depressed due to her loan. She left a suicide note where she did not blame any one.

The officers of anti-rowdy squad on Thursday rounded up Mohhamad Sabir, a notorious central Kolkata criminal in connection with a shoot out inside Kolkata Medical College premises last year. Police earlier arrested two other in connection with the shoot out.

Toton Biswas, a driver by profession absconded after stabbing his wife after a brawl at Khardah’s Desbandhu Nagar in North 24 Parganas. The woman has been admitted at Panihati state general hospital in critical condition. The police is searching for Toton.

Lovestruck teens jump off terrace

KOLKATA: A 14-year-old girl died while her boyfriend, 15, is battling for his life after the duo tried to commit suicide by jumping off the terrace of a four-storeyed apartment at Sajirhat near Ghola in North 24-Parganas on Wednesday evening. The girl died on the spot while the boy had to be admitted to RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in a critical condition.

After a preliminary investigation, police suspect that the duo attempted suicide after their parents objected to the affair. The incident took place around 6.30pm, when the residents of the apartment heard a loud thud and rushed to the spot, police said. They found the duo lying in a pool of blood and rushed them to Panihati State General Hospital where the girl was declared dead on arrival. The boy was later shifted to a nursing home in Barasat. His condition was stated to be critical.

The boy, a Class-VIII student of an English-medium school at Doltala in Madhyamgram, lived in a flat on the Sodepur-Barasat Road. He was in love with the Class-VII girl of the same school. The girl was a Dum Dum resident. They were in an affair for the past few months. But both families had strongly opposed to the relationship several times. The girl’s parents had reportedly warned the boy to sever ties with their daughter.

Police suspect that they possibly decided to kill themselves after the girl came over to her boyfriend’s house on Wednesday afternoon, police said. None of his family members were at home.

A suicide note, addressed to the parents, was also foundin the room. It said that they were mentally depressed and had to take the drastic step as their parents did not accept their relationship., police said. Barrackpore police commissioner Sanjay Mukherjee himself visited the spot and said, “An investigation has been started.”