A woman, married and living in India for 30 years, was allegedly shot dead by members of the Border Security Force of India in a border area adjoining Meherpur Sadar upazila on early Monday.

The family rushed to the spot after hearing the news of her death but did not find the body.According to locals, Istafan was shot while approaching her brother, who lives in Bangladesh, across the border crossing in the dark of night.

Members of the 8th BSF Battalion Natna Camp of Tehatto in Nadia district opened fire.

Hasem Ali, the elder brother of the victim woman, said: "30 years ago, my sister Istafan was married and lived with her husband in a city in Bihar, India. She came to Bangladesh after crossing the border illegally two years ago and returned to Bihar after a few weeks. Later, when her husband died, she wanted to come to Bangladesh as there was no one to look after her at her last age in Bihar.”

For the past three days, she was staying across the border at Nabinagar of Tehatto thana in Nadia district. Her last conversation with us was on the phone on Sunday night, said Hasem.

“In the middle of the night, I got the news that he was shot dead by members of the Natna BSF camp while crossing the border to enter Bangladesh.”

She wanted to spend the last time of her life with her siblings in Bangladesh. After several attempts, she could not come to her country even after trying for the last one and a half years. She was forced to cross the border at Khalpara border last Sunday night and was shot dead by BSF.

After hearing the news of death, family members contacted the local Buripota BGB camp hoping to recover the body. BGB could not give an assurance of getting the body because of the incident inside India.

Buripota BGB camp commander Manmohan admitted the truth of the incident and said: "The death incident took place inside India."

“BSF did not tell us anything about this. The deceased woman was born in Bangladesh, her brother and other family members live in the border village of Shalika. It is believed that this incident happened while coming to them illegally,” said the camp commander.