The villagers and the police at the spot where the suspected cattle rustlers were killed. Picture by Surajit Roy

Malda, Oct. 29: Two persons were lynched last night when they allegedly tried to sneak into a Malda village from Bangladesh to lift cattle.

The attack was carried out by the members of a vigilante committee that the people of Khudibanpur, about 60km from here, had formed a few months ago to capture cattle rustlers from the neighbouring country.

The villagers decided to organise themselves when they found that the presence of police and BSF had served no purpose in stopping the crime.

About 40 people would keep vigil every night with torches and weapons like arrows, bows and spears. The villagers claimed that the cattle lifting had virtually stopped because of the vigilantism.

A team from Habibpur police station reached the spot about 8am today and recovered the bodies of the unidentified men. The bodies were sent to Malda district hospital for post-mortem.

Based on the villagers’ account, the police said about a dozen armed men were spotted sneaking across the border, about 3km away, thinking that the vigilantes would be less alert on Kali Puja night.

When challenged, the Bangladeshis started attacking the vigilantes. As the news spread, more and more people started coming out of their houses and the rustlers were surrounded.

The deputy pradhan of the Srirampur gram panchayat, Muniram Chowdhury, said over 100 people had cornered the gang. The villagers got hold of two members of the gang, while others managed to escape, taking advantage of the darkness.

“The captured men were attacked with bows, arrows and spears and they soon died,” said Muniram.

A local CPM leader, Balai Singh, alleged that there had been incidents of Bangladeshi criminals entering the village and fleeing with the cattle at almost every night till two months back. “The people decided to take up arms and guard the border as the police and BSF were a failure in curbing the intrusion from across the border.”

The Srirampur pradhan, Radha Haldar, said two months back, six persons were injured when a group of Bangladeshis had raided the village and taken away eight cows.

The superintendent of police of Malda, Satyajit Banerjee, said two Bangladeshis, who had been seen loitering in the village this morning, had been arrested. “All of them were armed and they probably entered from Begpur in Bangladesh’s Nababganj district,” he said.

The BSF has been informed about the incident and requested to step up vigil along the border in Habibpur. “The police could not reach there on time as the village is 30km from the station,” the officer said.