The Border Security Force (BSF) has refuted claims made by constable Uttam Sutradhar, who is accused of shooting dead two of his colleagues at the Maldakhand Border Outpost in North Dinajpur on Tuesday.

While the police had said that preliminary investigations pointed out to the constable having some grievances with his seniors,a top BSF official today said that Mr Sutradhar opened fire out of frustration after having failed to talk to his second wife over the mobile phone during duty on the Indo-Bangladesh border.

Mr Sutradhar had also allegedly told the police that some senior BSF officials were hand-in-glove with smugglers and that he merely protested the same.

Officials BSF sources said Mr Sutradhar had deposited his cellphone in “official custody” before joining duty along the border on Monday night.

“After committing the crime, he is now trying to establish himself as an honest border guard serving the country, but it has been reliably learnt that Uttam Sutradhar married twice. His first wife is a simple and humble lady from Tripura and his second wife is highly educated and belongs to a well-to-do family,”

Deputy Inspector General, North Bengal Frontier, BSF, RR Sharma, said. “He is levelling such allegations probably to to sensationalise the matter and gain sympathy,” he added.

“Sutradhar was under tremendous mental pressure due to his plural marriage as the same was probably known to late Anuj Kumar (the constable who, he shot dead). The most probable cause for killing Anuj was to hide his plural marriage as he was privy to it. Efforts are on to find out the details of his second wife,” Mr Sharma claimed today.

“He is a cold-blooded murderer of an unarmed Inspector who had served the nation for the past 37 years with impeccable track record and a young constable with nine years of service,” Mr Sharma said.

“His allegations of food and other administrative aspects are not true and are fabricated. There is an established redressal system for grievances of force personnel,” the DIG said, adding that there are also no leave restrictions in the BSF.

“We are following the government’s instructions as they are published and are adopting the Covid-19 protocol. When transport operations started, personnel obtained epasses and proceeded on leave. Every person returning from leave is put through institutional quarantine as per Covid protocols,” DIG Sharma added.