New Delhi: India launched an inquiry into the death of a Nepalese citizen during a clash along the border.
Local residents said Govinda Gautam aged 20 of Kanchanpur district in southwestern Nepal, was hit by shots allegedly fired by Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) personnel on Thursday after a dispute over the construction of a culvert on Sano Khola river by Nepalese authorities.
Indian officials said 36 people, including nine SSB personnel, were injured when Nepalese citizens pelted stones at them.
Movement across the border was suspended after the incident.
Gautam’s death resulted in tension in Kanchanpur and hundreds of people demonstrated outside the hospital where his body was kept.
After Nepal’s foreign ministry condemned the “killing of an innocent Nepali national…due to fire opened by the Indian security forces”, India’s external affairs ministry said the SSB had launched an inquiry.
“The government of Nepal is being requested through diplomatic channels to share post-mortem and forensic reports to facilitate the process,” external affairs ministry spokesperson Gopal Baglay said.
Local officials from the two sides held a meeting and “agreed to maintain peace and order”, he said.