A 22-year-old man was killed and two others injured on Friday when Nepal's Armed Police Force (APF) opened fire following an altercation at the border along Bihar's Sitamarhi district even as India described the incident as an "avoidable altercation".
The incident which took place at around 8:40 AM came at a time India and Nepal were locked in a confrontation after the latter re-drew its map including localities under the control of New Delhi.
Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) Director General Kumar Rajesh Chandra said the incident started with Lagan Yadav and his family members from Janki Nagar village going to meet their daughter-in-law who is a Nepali citizen at the border village on their side. The SSB guards the 1,741 km-long Indo-Nepal border.
The incident took place inside Nepalese territory, he said adding Lagan Yadav is in Nepal's custody.
Chandra said the APF has told them that they objected to it, as Nepal was under COVID-19 lockdown till June 14 and wanted them to go back, which resulted in a verbal altercation. The APF claimed that the family called their villagers over mobile phone and a crowd had gathered, he said.
However, it went out of control and the APF personnel opened 15 rounds of fire, including ten in the air. Three persons Uday Thakur (24) and Vinesh Ram (18) who were hit on their things and Vikesh Yadav (22), who suffered bullet injuries on his chest.
"Yadav succumbed to his injuries. This was an avoidable altercation. This is a completely local altercation. Our nearest border post, that is about 1.5 km from the incident site, is keeping an eye on the matter," Chandra said, adding he has submitted a report to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).
APF Additional Inspector General of Police Narayan Babu Thapa told PTI in Kathmandu that the incident occurred when a group of 25-30 Indian nationals were trying to enter Nepal and they attacked the Nepalese security personnel at Narayanpur area of Parsa Rural Municipality in Sarlahi district in southern Nepal.
"They even snatched weapons from one of our security men. After firing ten rounds of bullets in the air, our personnel had to open fire for self-defence in which one person was killed and two others were injured," he said adding the incident took place some 75 metres inside the Nepalese territory from the no-man's land.