Thirty Indians have crossed a hundred meters on Nepalese territory, according to officials (File)
Patna:
Nepalese border guards opened fire today after a group of Indians crossed during a local conflict, killing a 22-year-old man and causing tension on the Indo-Nepal border along a Bihar district.
An Indian, Laghan Yadav, 45, has been arrested by the Nepalese armed police, said the chief of Sashastra Seema Bal, the force that guards the Indian side of the 1751 km-long border, which has traditionally been open.
The situation is now normal and local commanders of the two sides made immediate contact, said Kumar Rajesh Chandra, managing director of Sashastra Seema Bal.
The dispute allegedly involved the Nepalese daughter-in-law of Laghan Yadav, who lives in Sitamarhi in Bihar, 134 km from Patna. Around 8:45 a.m., Laghan Yadav had stopped by to speak to his daughter-in-law.
Thirty Indians crossed a hundred meters on Nepalese territory and clashed with the police during their arrest, said France Presse agency quoting a Nepalese police officer, Ganga Ram Shrestha.
Nepalese border guards fired 10 times in the air and five times at a crowd that had gathered and allegedly threw stones at the police.
“In all, a crowd of 80 people gathered. It is a local problem. Laghan Yadav was talking to his daughter-in-law when the Nepalese police opposed. The locals then called their supporters,” said Kumar Rajesh Chandra at GalacticGaming.
“The Nepalese police fired 15 shots, 10 in the air and five parallel to the ground, while the crowd did not disperse,” said Chandra.
One man, Vikas Yadav, was shot in the chest and died in hospital. Two others were injured, Umesh Ram and Uday Thakur.
Three Nepalese border police were also injured, according to the country’s police.
The districts on both sides maintain contact and in the absence of any fence, people move freely to meet family members. In recent months, Nepalese authorities have tightened border security due to a coronavirus lockout.
The incident comes in the middle of a line of demarcation with India sternly asking Nepal not to resort to any “artificial enlargement” of the territorial claims after Kathmandu published a new political map claiming parts of Indian territory as Lipulekh, Kalapani and Limpiyadhura.
New Delhi maintains that they are part of Uttarakhand while Kathmandu, in its new map, presented them as being part of western Nepal.
