Bhojpur, November 25

Four Nepalis were injured when Indian Seema Suraksha Bal opened fire at Bhantabari of Haripur VDC in Sunsari this morning.

Indian embassy in Kathmandu has, however, claimed that those hurt were not Nepalis and the incident occurred in Indian territory, and not on the Nepali side.

Ashok Yadav, 40, Naresh Yadav, 20, Manoj Yadav, 20, and Saroj Yadav, 20, from Bhantabari were injured after SSB personnel from India’s Birpur bazaar opened fire on them, according to Eastern Regional Police Office, Biratnagar. Of the injured, the condition of Ashok is said to be critical.

He was hit in the chest, while Naresh and Saroj were hit in waist and thigh, respectively. Naresh, Ashok and Saroj are being treated at BP Koirala Institute of Health Sciences, Dharan, while Manoj was discharged after undergoing treatment for shrapnel wounds, police said.

An investigation into the incident is under way, said police.

Ranbir Singh, in-charge, Seema Suraksha Bal, Satana Post, telephoned Sunsari District Police Office Chief SP Sanjay Raj Sharma and admitted that SSB personnel were involved in firing.

A dispute broke out when the SSB personnel tried to stop fertiliser smugglers from India’s Supaul district at Dasgaja while they were smuggling chemical fertilisers on bicycle to Nepal. The smugglers beat up SSB personnel as the dispute escalated. In retaliation, SSB fired indiscriminately at the smugglers inside Nepali territory after they fled from the scene.

However, locals on Nepali side alleged that SSB personnel entered Nepali territory and fired at them. SP Sharma said SSB in-charge had assured him of investigating into the incident and punish the guilty.

A source at District Police Office, Sunsari, said the nature of the incident showed that SSB personnel had entered Nepali territory.

Meanwhile, Sunsari CDO Rabilal Panth, police chief SP Sharma and Deputy Director of Investigation Department Narendra Dahal visited the incident site. India’s Supaul district SDM Arun Kumar Singh, DSP Sudhir Kumar and SSB Birpur-based 45 Battalion Chief Ram Avatar also visited the site.

Home Minister Shakti Bahadur Basnet today said the government would draw India’s attention towards the report of Indian SSB personnel opening fire in a village in Sunsari district today.

Speaking at the meeting of State Affairs Committee of Legislature Parliament today, Basnet said the government would write to the Kathmandu-based Indian embassy via the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to express its concern about the incident.

He claimed that four persons were hit by bullets while they were 100 meters inside the Nepal territory. They were bringing chemical fertiliser on bicycles from India, he added.

Indian embassy’s denial

KATHMANDU: Embassy of India in Kathmandu has claimed that firing by Seema Suraksha Bal took place on Indian soil and no Nepali citizen was injured in the firing.

Issuing a press release, it claimed that reports in the Nepali media regarding firing by SSB were inaccurate.

Indian embassy claimed that a patrolling party of SSB came across a few smugglers inside the Indian territory across the Sunsari district of Nepal at 05:20am on Wednesday and when SSB personnel challenged them the smugglers and their accomplices attacked the team and injured a constable.

“SSB personnel fired in the air in self-defence, following which the smugglers dispersed,” claimed the embassy.