3 Bangladeshi Cattle Lifters Lynched in Khowai, Exposed the persistent challenges of cross-border smuggling
By Our Correspondent
Agartala, October 16, 2025
In a chilling rerun of the 2021 mob lynching that claimed four lives, three unidentified Bangladeshi nationals were brutally hacked to death on Wednesday following a violent confrontation with villagers in Tripura’s Khowai district, near the India-Bangladesh border.
According to police sources, the incident occurred at Bidyabil under Champahowar police station when two Indian villagers working in a nearby rubber plantation reportedly noticed three Bangladeshi intruders hiding in the area. On being challenged, the alleged cattle lifters turned violent and attacked the duo with daos (sharp-edged weapons), leaving them injured.
The injured villagers managed to flee and alert others in the locality. In response, a group of residents rushed to the scene, confronted the alleged intruders, and in the ensuing scuffle, overpowered and lynched all three on the spot.
Police later recovered the bodies and sent them for post-mortem to Khowai District Hospital. The injured villagers were admitted to Behelabari Government Hospital and are said to be out of danger.
A senior police officer confirmed that the situation is now under control. “A detailed probe has been initiated, and forensic experts have visited the spot to collect evidence,” the officer said. Additional forces have been deployed in the area to prevent any further escalation.
The gruesome killings have drawn stark comparisons to the mob lynching that rocked the state in June 2021, when four suspected cattle lifters were beaten to death by irate villagers at two separate locations under the Mungiakami and Kalyanpur police stations in Khowai. Those victims, too, were allegedly caught attempting to smuggle cattle across the international border.
Wednesday’s incident has once again exposed the persistent challenges of cross-border smuggling and infiltration along Tripura’s 856-km-long India-Bangladesh frontier. Despite extensive fencing, sporadic cases of illegal entry, cattle theft, and contraband trade continue to plague border districts such as Khowai and Dhalai.
Sources within the security establishment said preliminary findings suggest that the three deceased Bangladeshi nationals might have been part of an organized cattle smuggling network operating between Tripura and Bangladesh.
A local villager, requesting anonymity, claimed that the residents acted in self-defence after being attacked by the intruders. “The villagers did not initiate the violence. They retaliated only when the Bangladeshi smugglers tried to harm them,” he said.
However, authorities have emphasized that the rule of law must prevail and that such acts of mob justice cannot be condoned, irrespective of the circumstances. “Every case of cross-border crime must be dealt with legally. Vigilante action only worsens the situation,” a senior official remarked.
The state police have launched a formal investigation to ascertain the identities of the deceased and to trace possible links to larger smuggling syndicates operating across the border.
As tension simmers in the border belt, security forces and the Border Security Force (BSF) have intensified patrols and stepped up surveillance in sensitive stretches of the Khowai region.
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