A Border Security Force (BSF) man shot dead two of his colleagues on the Maldakhand Indo-Bangladesh Border Outpost (BOP), around 30 km away from Raiganj in North Dinajpur district early this morning.

The accused constable, Uttam Sutradhar from Tripura, surrendered to his Commanding Officer after killing Inspector Mahendra Singh Bhatti, 57, and constable Anuj Kumar, 33, of the 146 Battalion, officials said.

Police reached the site of the incident and later arrested Mr Sutradhar, while the BSF and the police stopped the movement of common people on the border road after the incident that sent shockwaves across the region.

It is learnt that the deceased Mahendra Singh was a resident of Amritsar in Punjab, while Anuj Kumar hailed from Saharanpur in Bihar.

According to a source, Mr Sutradhar was on duty guarding the border, around 1 km away from the Maldakhand BOP, when Kumar went to take over and release him from duty. “Mahendra Singh, the Inspector, also turned up at the spot suddenly, and he had an altercation with Uttam Sutradhar for some reason. Uttam lost him temper and started firing from his sophisticated rifle on his officer. Anuj Kumar tried to save his officer and in doing so he too was hit by a bullet and he died on the spot,” sources said.

PR Roy, an official of the 146 Battalion of the BSF immediately turned up at the spot and took stock of the situation. He, however, refused to speak on the matter.

After being informed, Deputy Superintendent of Police Prashad Pradhan and Inspector in-charge of the Raiganj police station, Suraj Thapa, visited the spot and arrested the accused BSF jawan, sources said.

The Superintendent of Police of North Dinajpur, Sumit Kumar said, “We have arrested the accused constable Uttam Sutradhar. We came to know that the accused had some grievances against his senior officers. Further investigations are going on.”

RR Sharma, the DIG, BSF, North Bengal Frontier Headquarters at Kadamtala in Siliguri, said Mr Sutradhar was performing his first shift duty on the Indo-Bangladesh border, when he fired two rounds in the air from his service rifle.

“On hearing the sound of firing, Inspector Mahendra Singh Bhatti (Coy 2IC), who was patrolling in the nearby area, immediately rushed towards the spot, along with Ct Anuj Kumar. On this, Ct Uttam Sutradhar opened fire upon Inspector Mahendra Singh Bhatti and Ct Anuj Kumar in which both of them died on the spot,” Mr Sharma said.

“Thereafter, the Coy Comdr arrived at the spot and continuously tried to persuade him to surrender. At about 0305 hrs, Ct Uttam Sutradhar surrendered himself before the Coy Comdr. Victims neither had any quarrel nor scuffle with the accused. Actual cause of firing will be ascertained after an enquiry,” he added.