The BSF has ordered a departmental inquiry into the killing of a student on suspicion of being a cattle smuggler at Hrishamukh area in South Tripura district on Monday.
“The BSF has adopted a non-lethal policy to ensure the safety of life of even trans-border smugglers and miscreants. But it is not known how a shot from a non-lethal weapon claimed a life. There will be a departmental probe,” said a BSF official.
The 27-year-old youth was injured when BSF jawans resorted to firing from non-lethal weapons (pump action guns).
The BSF contingent on duty along the international border at Hrishyamukh area under Belonia subdivision, had spotted six to seven persons trying to damage fencing with the intention of smuggling cattle into Bangladesh, said the official.
He said when the BSF troops challenged them with machetes and sticks, causing injury to a jawan.
Though the suspected cattle lifters fled from the spot, one Jasim Miah of Debipur sustained pellet injuries.
“The injured person was evacuated to the Hrishyamukh hospital and further referred to the Sub Divisional Hospital at Belonia, where the doctor declared him dead,” said the senior BSF official.