The Tripura Frontier of the Border Security Force (BSF) honoured its Assistant Commandant Jeevan Kumar on Wednesday, nine years after he was allegedly killed by the Bangladesh Rifles (now Border Guards Bangladesh).
On April 16, 2005, Mr. Kumar was taken into territory and knifed before being shot. A group of smugglers had pulled him into Bangladeshi territory and handed him over to the Bangladesh Rifles. His body was returned after a fierce exchange of fire between the two border forces.
The BSF has named a road ‘Jeevan Path’ after the martyr in the frontier headquarters at Salbagan in Agartala.
B. N. Sharma, BSF’s Tripura Frontier Inspector General, and officers planted 250 saplings in memory of Mr. Kumar, who had been in charge of the outpost at Lankamura, a few kilometres west of Agartala. A constable who was also taken away survived but was severely wounded.
Under the leadership of Mr. Kumar, the troops had taken tough measures against smuggling and cross-border crime.
Sources said the slain officer was honoured now at the instruction of top brass of the BSF and that tributes would be paid to all those who had lost their lives in service of the nation. With the exception of a small monument on the border at Lankamura, nothing had been done until now in the memory of the valiant Mr. Kumar, they added.
On June 6, 2014, BSF trooper Sandip Kumar was shot dead during a clash with Indian villagers a short distance from Lankamura.
