Siliguri (West Bengal), Jan 5: Four people were injured Monday in an exchange of gunfire between Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) personnel and villagers near the India-Nepal border in West Bengal’s Darjeeling district, police said.
The SSB, however, said at least four of its personnel were injured when villagers fired at them after the paramilitary troopers tried to stop smuggling of cattle.
An SSB officer said no civilian was injured in firing by the troopers.
According to the SSB, many villagers were trying to smuggle as many as 200 cows from Nepal to Bangladesh and were intercepted by officials along the border.
SSB Inspector General (Siliguri Frontier) Kuldeep Singh said the villagers fired at them.
“Four to five of our men were injured. In the counter-attack, our men fired six to seven rounds in the air. None of the civilians were injured due to our firing,” he said.
Among the injured were two adults and two children, a Darjeeling district police officer said.
A few others sustained minor injuries in the scuffle that broke out after the firing.
The villagers claimed that the SSB personnel fired at them while they were returning home after taking their cows for grazing. (IANS)
