Nepal APF frees detained man from Bihar

PATNA/SITAMARHI: An Indian citizen, who was detained by the Nepalese paramilitary forces on Friday following the

firing incident

in which a

Sitamarhi

villager was killed, was released on Saturday.


Ram Lagan Rai, 45, returned to his village Jankinagar under Sonbarsa police station amid a dharna by his family members and local residents, who had assembled near the India-Nepal border, after Rai was taken into custody by the Nepal Armed Police Force personnel on Friday morning. The protesters shouted anti-Nepal government slogans.

“Minor incidents of clashes do happen on the border from both sides and subsequently they are sorted out. And Friday’s incident was no exception. It was related to a local issue and had nothing to do with any dispute over territory between the two neighbouring countries,” said Sanjay Kumar, IG of SSB, Frontier Headquarters, confirming the safe release of the Indian national.

A 25-year-old youth Vikesh Kumar, stated to be a migrant worker from Jankinagar under Pipra Parsaini panchayat, was killed and two others were injured in the police firing by APF personnel inside Nepal territory at Sarlahi. The condition of the two injured—Udai Thakur (27) and Umesh Ram (20)— is stated to be out of danger.

Rai was set free after a dialogue between officials of the two countries led by Sitamarhi SP Anil Kumar and SSB officials on the Indian side and the Nepal team headed by DIG Raj Aaryal.

Recalling his ordeal, Rai alleged that he was physically and mentally harassed by the APF personnel to force him to confess that he was taken into custody from inside Nepal.

“I rushed towards Indian territory after the firing by APF personnel on a group of people, who had gone inside Nepal territory to meet some relatives. “But APF personnel assaulted me with rifle butts and dragged me inside Nepal territory. Thereafter, I was taken to Sangrampur where they tortured me,” Rai alleged.

Rai also showed injury marks on his back. “Friday’s incident has shaken me from within. The people of two nations have cordial relations since ages. People from both sides cross the porous border for agriculture work. I have been doing this since childhood. But we never faced such a situation before,” he said.

The last rites of the deceased, Vikesh Kumar, was conducted after the APF relented and set detainee Rai free unconditionally, a senior police officer said.

Sources said Vikesh, a migrant worker, had returned to his village in Sitamarhi from Ludhiana in Punjab after the nationwide lockdown was imposed. “He returned home in the hope that he will not die of hunger in an alien land (Ludhiana). But destiny had willed otherwise,” said a close relative.