The dead boy’s father Babulal (in Telegraph picture) and (below) the place where the firing took place

Jan. 29: Two bullets fired by Bangladesh’s border guards — out of 450 that were exchanged today — hit Manoj Roy on the back as the Class VII student was cycling to school.

The boy was pronounced dead at the Balurghat district hospital, where he had been taken from the local hospital in Hili, 470km north of Calcutta in South Dinajpur.

Some hours later, Subedar Om Prakash Singh, who was abducted by the Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) guards before they opened fire, was returned to the Border Security Force (BSF).

By then, the BDR had fired 300 rounds and the BSF had replied with 150, deputy inspector-general P.S. Tomar of the Indian force said.

Manoj, the youngest of three brothers and a sister, was the son of tea-stall owner Babulal. Their mother had died earlier.

“He was a bright boy and was doing well at studies and his father had hoped he would grow up to be a support during his old age,” a neighbour said of the student of Panchul High School. Babulal is inconsolable, he said.

Around 7am, Subedar Singh spotted a group of people trying to sneak into Bangladesh with fertilisers and chased them. But he was accosted near the zero point by BDR guards and the smugglers and was abducted, BSF sources said.

Soon after, the BDR opened fire, the sources added. The BSF retaliated when the Bangladesh guards refused to free the subedar.

The firing, which began around 7.30am, stopped an hour later after talks between the two headquarters. However, BDR opened fire again, BSF sources said. The firing continued till 1pm.

The Hili panchayat samiti sabhapati, Kalyani Mali, who lives in the area where the firing took place, said 36 families whose homes lie beyond the barbed wire fencing had been moved.

“They have been shifted to the Bolopara area near here. They fled their homes with whatever they could grab hold of,” she said.

Additional BSF forces and police from Hili thana had rushed to the spot to help. Residents said thousands of bullets were fired, but Tomar put the total at 450.

Additional police superintendent Imran Wahab, who visited the spot, said Singh was released around 4.30pm after a flag meeting in which Tomar and the BDR’s Dinajpur sector commandant participated.

Singh, whose uniform was torn, was taken away for questioning. In case of a protest, the BDR can argue that since the man was not in uniform, they were justified in detaining him as a trespasser.

The BSF is planning to lodge a protest against the “unprovoked firing”.

“In the retaliatory fire by us, two BDR personnel have also been seriously injured,” BSF director-general A.K. Mitra said. Unconfirmed reports had said the two were killed.

In April 2005, BSF assistant commandant in Tripura Jeevan Kumar was shot dead after being dragged by the BDR into its territory.