Two women from a forest village on the fringes of a reserve forest in Bagdogra area died when an elephant attacked on Monday afternoon. Another woman is seriously injured and under treatment at a private nursing home.
Sources in the state forest department said that the incident happened near Central Forest Busty under Bagdogra forest range of Kurseong forest division when a group of women went to the forest for fodder.
Reportedly, a tusker attacked the group. Sabitri Subba, 48, died instantly. As news spread, foresters and police from Bagdogra went to the jungle and found Debi Tamang, 50, and Geeta Subba, 45, injured. Later, Debi also died.
“A herd of 150-odd elephants is wandering in the forests of Bagdogra and Naxalbari. We repeatedly appeal to villagers of fringe areas to stay away from forests. Still, these women entered the forest and a tusker attacked them,” said Harikrishnan P.J., the Kurseong divisional forest officer.
Five Bangla nationals, ‘tout’ held
Border Security Force (BSF) troops along the India-Bangladesh border in north Bengal nabbed five Bangladeshi nationals from two sites for allegedly trying to enter India illegally, as well as an Indian “tout”, on Saturday.
In Cooch Behar district, troops of the 6th battalion at Teenbigha border outpost nabbed four persons, including a woman, from the Teenbigha corridor when they were proceeding towards Mekhliganj. All are residents of Ukhiya, Bangladesh. With them, Manil Roy of Sukantanagar Colony of Jalpaiguri and a suspected tout who helps people illegally cross the border, was also nabbed.
All were handed over to Kuchlibari police. Troops of the 26th battalion at Madhavpur border outpost in South Dinajpur nabbed a Bangladeshi resident of Gaibandha district, who was allegedly trying to infiltrate India, and handed him to Patiram police.