A 16-year-old girl was gunned down allegedly by the members of Indian Border Security Force (BSF) in Kulaura upazila of Moulvibazar last night.

Swarna Das, daughter of Parendra Das of Kalnigarh village in Westjuri union, was a student of class eight of Nirod Bihari High School in the upazila.

Kulaura Police Station's Officer-in-Charge (OC) Binay Bhushan Roy confirmed the death on the border.

Nayek Obaid, patrol commander of Lalarchak Border Outpost (BOP) of the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) battalion-46, said that a group of Bangladeshis attempted to enter India crossing the border illegally.

However, one of them was shot dead by BSF, who took away the body into their territory. As of now, the Indian authorities have not returned the body yet, the BGB official said.

OC Binay told our Moulvibazar correspondent that the process for the return of Swarna's body depends on existing legal procedures and negotiations between the two countries.

The victim's father Parendra said that Swarna along with her mother had attempted to cross the Lalarchak border with India to visit her eldest brother, who has been living in Tripura. Both were accompanied by a couple from Chattogram and assisted by two local agents to cross the border, he added.

When they approached the Indian border's barbed wire fence around 9:00pm, BSF personnel opened fire, killing Swarna on the spot, and the couple, who were accompanying Swarna and her mother, sustained injuries, he added.

Following the incident, three of the group sought shelter at a house at Lalarchak village.

The house owner said he saw two individuals were shot. Then he promptly contacted the BGB men.

Later, BGB officials visited the family last night.

The injured couple was later taken to Sylhet MAG Osmani Medical College Hospital for treatment.