Vijay Sah, 45, of Puri Tole, Koshi Rural Municipality-1, Sunsari, had only one source of livelihood, a city rickshaw. He used to support his family of six by driving that rickshaw. He was killed by bullets fired by the Armed Police Force deployed for border security on Wednesday midnight. His death has not only added to the grief of the family, but has also taken away their only source of livelihood.

Puri Tole is a settlement connected to the Indian small customs office Laukahi. A few hundred meters away, Belah Bazaar in India is located. In the absence of farming or other employment, many of the people in this settlement have chosen to become ‘porters’ in the name of employment. They carry other people’s goods from across the border. They make a living on the wages they receive. 

According to the locals, the ‘line’ opens from this checkpoint after 11 pm. Then the porters reach Belah Bazaar in India. They bring sugar, chocolate, and groceries. They deliver them to the traders before dawn. This work keeps the stove burning in the homes of many workers in Puri Tole. Vijay was also a worker in this category. ‘Vijay was a hardworking man, he was not a trader, he was just a porter,’ says Shobhit Narayan Yadav, ward chairman of Koshi Rural Municipality-1, ‘He used to carry other people’s goods to support his family. He had to be killed unnecessarily.’ 

After having dinner at around 11 pm on Wednesday, Vijay was heading towards Belah Bazaar in a city rickshaw. He brought the goods and delivered them on the first trip. He fled towards Belah for the second time. The family claims that the armed police on duty stopped him on his way back. ‘He called around 12 o’clock,’ his wife Geeta recalled tearfully, ‘The police were asking for money. It was clear that they were asking for 500. They were asking to put the car on its side.’

Suddenly, there was a ‘dang’ sound on the phone. ‘It was the sound of gunfire,’ says Geeta, ‘after that, his voice was not heard.’ The incident was only about 300 meters away from Vijay’s house. After the call was disconnected, Geeta and the villagers went out to look for Vijay. Vijay was lying next to the rickshaw with a bullet wound in the chest. When they reached him, Vijay was already dead. That moment shocked not only Geeta, but the entire settlement.

The city rickshaw with number 1-02-003 3317 had 7 bags of sugar, 2 cartons of chocolate and other belongings. It is not clear whose belongings Vijay was carrying. Sunsari Chief District Officer Basudev Ghimire says, ‘On the surface, it seems that Vijay was just a porter. An investigation is underway to find out whose goods it was.’

But the locals have a different question, what was the crime that even if he was a porter, he deserved to die? According to locals, a smuggling ‘line’ opens from this checkpoint between 11 pm and 1 am. During that period, porters transport goods from traders around Itahari and Inaruwa. ‘You have to pay 500 rupees to the police on duty for every round,’ says a local. ‘If there is a reluctance to pay, there is a dispute. Earlier, there was beating, this time there was shooting.’

As news of Vijay’s death spread, Laukahi Bazaar became tense from Thursday morning. Angry locals blocked the East-West Highway by placing the body on the road. Armed Police Force’s BIT and BOP were vandalized and set on fire. Police fired tear gas to control the situation.

While Sah was returning from India with his belongings, locals claim that he had a confrontation with the Armed Police Force and a transaction dispute at around 1:15 pm on Wednesday night in Puri Tole on the inner road section of Koshi Rural Municipality-1. Local Raghunandan Yadav claims that the armed police fired a bullet at Sah in the chest when the dispute escalated after he demanded more money than he had been giving earlier. 

An all-party meeting was held at the District Administration Office Inaruwa to defuse the tension. And, the meeting reached a five-point agreement. As per the agreement, a 7-member investigation committee has been formed under the coordination of Assistant Chief District Officer Ghanashyam Neupane. The committee has representatives from Nepal Police and National Investigation Agency. The committee has been given seven days to submit its report. Based on the agreement, the body has been handed over for postmortem and cremated by the family. 

DIG Kumar Neupane, Chief of Armed Police Force No. 1 Barah Bahini, claimed that an unknown group involved in smuggling opened fire first. ‘We stopped two autos and a city rickshaw,’ says DIG Neupane, ‘they got out of the auto and opened fire. Vijay died when he was forced to retaliate.’ However, no bullet casings belonging to the smugglers were found at the scene. The administration has confirmed that the two casings found were from bullets fired by the Armed Police Force. This contradiction has raised questions about the Armed Police Force’s claim.

A meeting held at the District Administration Office between the deceased’s family, local people’s representatives and security officers agreed to provide the deceased’s family with one lakh rupees for immediate expenses and form a committee to investigate the incident. 

Even after the agreement, the locals have demanded an investigation into the role of the Armed Police Force. The administration has committed to investigating the role of the Armed Police Force as per the demand of the locals. It has also been agreed to provide compensation if negligence is found, facilitate employment for the deceased’s wife and help his son join the Armed Police Force if he wants to. According to Chief District Officer Ghimire, this incident has highlighted the need for a purge of the Armed Police Force deployed in the border area. He informed that a serious investigation will be conducted after it was found that the police shot him in the chest contrary to the principle of using force.