Police recover bodies of 3 PPSS workers, bomb-making materials

Sitamarhi, Jun 15: Eyewitness accounts from locals in Bihar's Sitamarhi district recount the brutality and intimidation by Nepal's security personnel who on June 12 had resorted to unprovoked firing on a group of people at the international border, which left one Indian dead and two others injured.

"18-20 shots were fired for over one hour and everyone is in shock even now," said Nitish Kumar, a resident of Jankinagar recalling the incident that took place early on Friday morning.

Nepal's Armed Police Force (APF) opened fire at the Lalbandi-Jankinagar border in which three men - Vikesh Yadav, Umesh Ram and Uday Thakur - suffered gunshot injuries. Vikash Yadav succumbed to his injuries on Friday itself.

Another person Lagan Kishore, who was at the border with his family to meet his daughter-in-law, a Nepali national and her family, said he was detained by the APF personnel who dragged him to the other side of the border.

Lagan Kishore said that the Nepali personnel abused and hit him with rifle butts and even abused his son and later resorted to firing.

Several residents of Jankinagar, who spoke to media, termed the incident as "unfortunate and shocking".

Nitish Kumar recalled: "A family was here to meet their in-laws (Nepali nationals). The daughter-in-law was talking to her family while her husband and her father-in-law sat a little distance away. Suddenly I saw Nepali personnel abusing her husband who complained about it to his father. All of a sudden the Nepali forces started thrashing them and then opened fire. They also took the father into custody."

"We were all shocked. I could hear about 18-20 gunshots fired over a period of one hour," Kumar said.

Another local, Ajit Kumar, said he was perplexed with the behaviour of the Nepali Police.

"There used to be no problems earlier. We don't understand what happened to the Nepal Police that day. The firing is unfortunate. If this continues, how will people in the border area live?" he questioned.

Ajit Kumar stated that such an incident has taken place for the first time. "People from here go to work in fields in Nepal and their people come to work in our fields. Such a thing has happened for the first time. About 80 per cent of our people are married to Nepalis," he said.

Many people who live in the adjoining districts of Bihar, which shares over 600 kilometres of border with Nepal, have relatives on either side of the border.

Meanwhile, Nepali police have claimed that Lagan Kishore, who was taken into custody following the firing by APF and handed over to Indian Security Forces at no man's land on June 13, was detained for trying to snatch a weapon from one of their personnel during an altercation.

However, both Kishore and his family have denied the claims and said he was "dragged" across the border and was beaten.

Kishore said that during the firing he had rushed towards the Indian side but Nepalese personnel hit him with rifle butt and took him to Nepal's Sangrampur. He was also asked to confess that he was taken into custody from the Nepali side.

"We ran to return to India when they started firing, but they dragged me from the Indian side, hit me with a rifle butt and took me to Nepal's Sangrampur. They told me to confess that I was brought there from Nepal. I told them you can kill me but I was brought there from India," said Kishore.

Kishore's son also said that Nepali personnel started abusing them and hit him and his father.

Speaking to ANI, Kishore's son said, "We went to meet my brother-in-law. Security personnel started abusing me but I could not understand their language. However, my brother's wife asked them to not abuse. After that, they came to the Indian side and hit me. I told my father about the incident and he confronted them."

"They started beating him and called fellow personnel who started firing and dragged my father from the Indian side, hit him with a rifle butt and took him to Nepal''s Sangrampur," he said.

Relations have become strained between India and Nepal after the latter released a map showing parts of Indian Territory-Lipulekh, Kalapani and Limpiyadhura as its own.

Mumbai, Jan 30: Speaking at an event, Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Abu Azmi's son and businessman, Farhan Azmi said that if CM Uddhav Thackeray will build lord Ram's Temple at Ayodhya then he will build Babri Masjid there. He said, "My problem is with Uddhav Thackeray.

I respect him a lot and if in Shiv Sena somebody really deserves respect, then it is no other than Uddhav Thackeray. He never runs a government and I don't think he is running his party correctly.

If being the Chief Minister, Uddhav Thackeray says he is going to Ayodhya on 7th March, I will also go with him. He will build lord Ram's Temple and we will build Babri Masjid."

Kolkata, Jul 20: As many as 13 migrant workers who came to their native village in West Bengal's Bankura district were denied entry at the quarantine centre by the locals.

As a result, the workers had to set up a tent accommodation at a nearby Beraban forest area and lived together in a single tent there, without adequate food, drinking water and basic facilities.

The migrant labourers came from Rajasthan after four months of COVID-19 lockdown which was imposed nationwide on March 25 to contain the spread of coronavirus.

When they arrived at Jagadalla village in the Bankura district and tried to put up at a village school building for two weeks self-quarantine, angry villagers vehemently protested against their entry fearing Covid infections in their village.

Sources said that local police and panchayat members also failed to make the villagers understand the fact that if the labourers strictly stayed in self-quarantine there would be no chance of any further infection.

"The school is located quite within our neighbourhood. If they stay there and tested positive, they might spread Covid infections in the village. We cannot allow them to stay in the school building," said Aniket Goswami, a villager.