A group of residents from a border village in Cooch Behar district allegedly beat up six Bangladeshi infiltrators on Tuesday before dawn.
Sources said that the residents of Chenakata village in Mathabhanga-I block in Cooch Behar noticed six men "suspiciously loitering near the border".
Suspecting them to be involved in cattle smuggling, the residents allegedly intercepted all six individuals and assaulted them.
As the news spread, a Mathabhanga police team reached the spot along with Border Security Force (BSF) personnel.
They rescued the injured Bangladeshis, took them into police custody and admitted them to the subdivisional hospital in Mathabhanga.
Police sources said that Md Masiul, Md Sarthak, Wahed Ali, Ashraful Alam, Ashraful Islam aka Liton and Fazlu Rahaman are all residents of Patgram in Lalmonirhat district of Bangladesh.
The police have registered a case against them for infiltrating India. A separate case will be initiated against those who had assaulted them.
“Upon receiving information, police rescued six Bangladeshi nationals and admitted them to the hospital. A case has been registered against them for infiltration. At the same time, a suo motu case will be filed against those involved in the assault,” said Tanmoy Mukherjee, the additional superintendent of police of Mathabhanga.
These six men crossed the border at night through an unfenced stretch and entered Chenakata, believed to be familiar territory for them, a source said.
“We need to interrogate them to know why they infiltrated India,” he said.