Kidnapped villagers released

Statesman News Service

MALDA,( India) , Nov. 30 — Three villagers who were kidnapped by a group of Bangladeshis on 26 November were released today after a marathon flag meeting between Indian and Bangladeshi border guards at Sirsi Kalaibari area, officials said.

Authorities said three Indians were confined to the Chapai Nawabganj area in Bangladesh but the BDR denied the fact at the first flag meeting when India officials took up the issue.

Officials sources said the Indian villagers were forced to pick up a Bangladeshi man and a herd of 25 cattle grazing in a field on the Indian side crossing over the border in order to press the Bangladeshi officials as well as the abductors to release the captives.

Another flag meeting was held today between the BSF and the BDR at Sirsi-Kalaibari area on this issue and the BDR handed over three Indians Saroj Haldar , Mithu Haldar and Jogen Sarkar.

Reciprocating the BDR gesture, Indian villagers released the Bangladesh man and his herd of cattle but demanded compensation for losses inflicted by the Bangladesh cattle.

“The stalemate between the villagers of the two countries has been settled amicably”, said a senior officer of the 27 battalion BSF. #