Nepali citizen's death: Rajnath assures fair probe

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday assured Nepal's Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister Bimalendra Nidhi that a "fair and impartial enquiry" will conducted into the alleged killing of a Nepali national at the Indo-Nepal border in a firing by security forces.

The minister also expressed grief at the death of the Nepali national who was allegedly killed in Lakhimpur Kheri district of Uttar Pradesh in firing by the Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) along the border on March 9 in an incident that triggered protests in Nepal.

According to reports, the SSB personnel allegedly opened fire following a dispute over construction of a culvert on Sano Khola river along the border in Uttar Pradesh. The Indian embassy in Kathmandu has denied any firing by SSB personnel deployed on the Indian side of the border.

"India will carry out a fair and impartial enquiry into the incident (killing of Nepali national) and associate the Nepali counterparts in the effort to arrive at the truth," Rajnath Singh said.

The Home Minister also said: "Wherever strip maps have been finalised, the same should be signed by the concerned authorities at the earliest."

Mentioning India's healthy relations with Nepal, the minister further mentioned that the two countries enjoyed friendly and family-like relations with each other in all areas including security and border cooperation.

"Any incident taking place, even unknowingly, should be settled through joint inspection and investigation by the representatives of the two sides," Rajnath added.

He also asked for regular meetings between the Director General of SSB and the Nepali counterpart agency Armed Police Force.

Union Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi and Nepal's Ambassador in India Deep Kumar Upadhyaya, along with senior Home Ministry and External Affairs Ministry officials, were present during the meeting.

The SSB has initiated an enquiry into the matter and the government of Nepal has been requested through diplomatic channels to share post-mortem and forensic reports to facilitate the process, an External Affairs Ministry official had informed earlier.

--IANS

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