Three Bdeshi cattle lifters lynched in Khowai, reminiscent of 2021 mob killing of four
In a grim reminder of a 2021 incident in which four suspected cattle lifters were lynched in Tripura’s Khowai district, three Bangladeshi nationals were hacked to death on Wednesday following a violent clash with local villagers near the India-Bangladesh border.. The deceased have been identified as Juel Miah, Sajal Miah and Pandit Miah, all of them from Habiganj district of Bangladesh.
According to officials, two Indian villagers from Bidyabil under Champahowar police station had gone to work in a rubber plantation when they spotted the three Bangladeshis allegedly hiding nearby. When confronted, the intruders turned violent and attacked the duo with daos (sharp-edged weapons), injuring both.
They injured are Dhirendra Telenga and Mithun Telenga .
The injured men fled back to the village and raised an alarm. A group of villagers subsequently rushed to the site, overpowered the Bangladeshis after a scuffle, and allegedly lynched them on the spot. Police later recovered the three bodies and sent them for post-mortem to Khowai district hospital. Among the two injured local villagers, one is under treatment at Champahour police station and the other has been shifted to GBP hospital. After conducting an autopsy on the spot, the bodies were taken to the morgue of Khowai district hospital.
A senior police official confirmed that the situation has been brought under control and that a probe is underway. Forensic experts and senior officers have visited the site.
The killings bear an eerie similarity to the mob lynching in Khowai in June 2021, when four suspected cattle lifters were beaten to death by enraged villagers at two locations under the Mungiakami and Kalyanpur police stations. The victims were allegedly caught while attempting to smuggle cattle across the international border. The gruesome incident had then triggered tension along the border belt and prompted both Tripura Police and the Border Security Force (BSF) to step up vigil in the area.
Authorities say Wednesday’s violence highlights the continuing tension and risks associated with cross-border smuggling activities along the porous 856-km India-Bangladesh frontier in Tripura. Despite most of the border being fenced, sporadic incidents of infiltration and smuggling — particularly of cattle and contraband goods — continue to be reported from remote stretches of Khowai and Dhalai districts.
Senior police officials said the latest incident is being investigated to determine whether the Bangladeshi nationals were part of a larger cattle smuggling network operating across the border.
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