The Indian man who was detained by Nepal Armed Police Force (APF) on June 12 from the India-Nepal border in Sitamarhi district of Bihar was released early on Saturday.
Earlier on June 12, one Indian national was killed , while two others were injured, in firing by Nepal police after a clash broke out with local villagers at the Lalbandi-Jankinagar border area in Pipra Parsain panchayat.
The injured persons Uday Thakur and Umesh Ram were admitted to a private hospital in Sitamarhi for medical assistance, where they are now said to be out of danger. Lagan Kishore Rai was detained by the Nepal police.
“Yes, he was released by Nepal police early morning today”, confirmed Inspector-General of Police of Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB), Patna frontier, Sanjay Kumar.
When asked whether peace was prevailing at the border now, he told The Hindu over phone, “Yes, absolutely…situation is quite normal there as the incident happened on June 12 was a local issue”. “On Friday, we had reinforced SSB forces there to control the situation from our side but today the situation is quite normal there”, he added.
Meanwhile, Lagan Kishore Rai told local media persons that he was happy to be released. “They (Nepal police personnel) had dragged me from the Indian side after some heated exchange between them and people from our side…they took me to Sangrampur of Nepal but thankfully released me today”.
Earlier, Vikesh Kumar Rai was killed by Nepal APF personnel on June 12, while Uday Thakur and Umesh Ram had received gunshot injuries when the local villagers had a heated exchange of words with Nepal Police at the border over certain local issues.
“It was purely a local issue…the incident took place between locals and the armed police force of Nepal”, SSB IG Sanjay Kumar and Sitamarhi Superintendent of Police Anil Kumar confirmed.
Locals, however, said a few women from Nepal side had come to the border to talk with their family members on the Indian side and when the Nepal APF personnel objected in view of the COVID-19 lockdown, a scuffle broke out between them, which finally led to the firing by the Nepal police.
Bihar shares about 601 km of border with Nepal and many people living in bordering districts of the State have relatives on either side of the border. In view of the COVID-19 pandemic, Nepal had closed its international borders on March 22.
Of late, a dispute has marked the ties between Nepal and India when the former had shown some areas of India like Lipulekh, Kalapani and Limpiyadhura in its map.
