New Delhi/Kathmandu: Nepal on Sunday briefly detained 13 personnel of India’s paramilitary Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB who allegedly entered the country while chasing suspected smugglers near Jhapa district, bordering Bihar, before releasing them, according to news agency reports from Kathmandu.
The action by Nepal is indicative of the sharp downslide in Indo-Nepalese relations. Nepal’s Armed Police Force (APF) personnel deployed at the border account post at Kechana Village in Jhapa district, bordering Bihar’s Kishanganj district, detained the SSB jawans at around 6.30 am, according to Nepal police sources.
All 13 SSB personnel were later released after being briefly kept at the APF camp in Kechana. Assistant chief district officer Dambaru Prasad Niraula said in Kathmandu they were handed over to the Indian side after an investigation into the incident. “They (SSB jawans) were quizzed on the reason for entering Nepal,” Mr Niraula was quoted as saying.
Officials in Delhi said the patrol party of 13 SSB personnel followed the lead team of two jawans, identified as constables Roshan and Ramprasad deployed in the area, and “inadvertently” crossed over to the other side — by about 50 metres into Khuntanmani village — after which villagers surrounded the patrol.
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