BSF jawan loses hand in Bangaldeshi smugglers bomb attack in West Bengal
Kolkata: A BSF jawan lost his hand and sustained grievous injuries after Bangladeshi cattle smugglers attacked him with bombs in the early hours of Thursday along the India-Bangladesh border in West Bengal, the force said.
Constable Anisur Rehman also suffered pellet injuries to his lungs, liver and stomach from the impact of at least two country-made bombs lobbed at him near the Angrail border post in the North 24 Parganas district at about 3:30 am.
In the wake of the incident, the Border Security Force (BSF) issued an alert along the India-Bangladesh border in the south Bengal area as it registered a "strong protest" with their counterparts, the Border Guards Bangaldesh (BGB) to rein in the criminals on their side.
The jawan on border duty was attacked by a group of about 25 Bangaldeshi smugglers who entered 200 metres into the Indian side in order to smuggle cattle into their country with the assistance of locals here, the force said.
The smugglers were armed with bombs, dahs (cleaver-shaped weapon), axes, bamboo sticks among others, it said.
They encircled the jawan and hurled two country-made bombs on him. He was evacuated to the government hospital in Bangaon where his right hand was amputated.
"The jawan has suffered grievous injuries and he fired a round from his pump action gun in self defence before he fell unconscious. Reinforcement troops controlled the situation.
"The smugglers escaped to the other side as it was pitch dark and the area is marked with heavy vegetation and tall grass growth," a senior official said.
A smuggler is also suspected to have been injured in the firing by the jawan, he said.
The BSF has directed all its formations in the south Bengal frontier area "to adopt an aggressive posture against trans-border criminals and thwart their sinister designs. Such incidents of attacks on BSF troops are taking place quite often," the force said.
On Wednesday, the border guarding force had repulsed an attack by about 200 Bangladeshi cattle smugglers and seized 107 buffaloes along the Indo-Bangla border in Murshidabad district of the state.
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We will move court again to resist voter deletions: Mamata
Kolkata (PTI): West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday hit out at the BJP and the Election Commission over voter deletions during the SIR exercise and said her party will move a court again to resist the removal of electors from the rolls.
Her comments came after nearly 91 lakh voters' names were deleted from the electoral rolls following the completion of the Special Intensive Revision in the state.
“You will not be able to defeat the TMC by deleting names. We will move a court again to resist the exclusion of names," Banerjee said while attacking her principal challenger BJP over the roll revision exercise.
Banerjee had in February argued in the Supreme Court as she sought an intervention in the SIR process.
The EC figures, which pushed the total deletion to over 90.83 lakh names from the original voter base of 7.66 crore in October 2025, showed that the proportion of removal of electors now remains at over 11.85 per cent.
Criticising the poll panel over the SIR process, she also said, "We will fight legally to get the names included on the list as per the Constitution. If people cannot cast their votes, what is the need to frame the tribunal? And then you are saying that the list has been frozen. What is this? We will challenge it and try to understand it."
Addressing a poll rally at Arambagh in Hooghly district, the TMC supremo accused the saffron party of trying to manipulate the electoral rolls and offering money to woo voters.
Banerjee also charged the Election Commission with intimidating people over the phone.
“It (EC) is working at the behest of the BJP. It is calling people over the telephone to threaten and intimidate them,” she claimed.
Later, while speaking at a rally in Balagarh in the same district, Banerjee warned that voting for the BJP would effectively mean "giving up fish, meat, and speaking in Bengali".
“People are not allowed to eat eggs, fish, or meat in the BJP-ruled states like Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Maharashtra. The same will happen here if the BJP comes to power," Banerjee claimed.
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