Cross-border love story runs into rough: arrested in Hilli of South Dinajpur

MANAS R BANNERJEE, SNS, SILIGURI, 3 SEPTEMBER 21 : A love story that transcended the international boundary has hit rough weather when the Border Security Force (BSF) detained a Bangladeshi Muslim woman, who, in her desperation, entered Indian soil illegally, just faith the intention to meet her "husband," a Hindu man, across the border.

Tonesha Biswas, 38, has been identified as a resident of Khabashpur village under the Faridpur police station in Bangladesh. The BSF yesterday handed her over to the police in Hilli in South Dinajpur district, it is learnt.

Ms Biswas, who has thyroid problems, wanted to come to India for treatment with the help of her "new husband" Rajiv Biswas, who lives in Chandannagar in Hooghly district. Sources said that she planned to go to Chandannagar from Balurghat in South Dinajpur district after "casually" crossing the Indo Bangladesh border.

"She was on her very first visit to India, to meet her newfound love and also for her treatment. However, her dreams were shattered when she was apprehended by alert troops on the border," said Vizesh Rana, the Second -in - Command (G), officiating DIG (G), North Bengal Frontier Headquarters, BSF:

Ms Biswas narrated her story as BSF officials questioned her, it is learnt.

"I got separated from my ex-husband Arifuddin and was living with my only daughter, Sumi Jamal, who got married to one 30-year-old Sariful Islam, a resident of Rajbari in Faridpur district in Bangladesh," Ms Biswas told the BSF officials, it is learnt.

"After the marriage of my daughter, I became lonely and found one Indian Rajiv Biswas, who is 31 years old, on Emo Chat. Rajiv is the son of Dilip Biswas in Hooghly district in West Bengal," she added.

"She started chatting with him on Emo Chat and gradually fell in love with Rajiv out of loneliness. Their love bloomed and ultimately they got married one year ago through Emo Chat," said a senior BSF official associated with the North Bengal Frontier.

According to official sources, Tonesha is the second wife of Rajiv Biswas.

BSF officials also came to know that Mr Biswas regularly visited Bangladesh with a valid passport and visa to meet her.

The Bangladeshi woman further revealed that she had paid 15,000 Bangladeshi Taka to one Bangladeshi tout identified as Sajjad Hussain, a resident of Hili Bazaar, who helped her cross the Indo Bangladesh border.

Records, meanwhile, show that infiltration is on the rise along the India Bangladesh border in South Dinajpur.

Asked to comment on the present trend, Inspector General of the BSF, North Bengal Frontier Headquarters, Ravi Gandhi, said in Siliguri today: "It is due to the population on the zero line of the international border in that region."

Acting on a tip-off and real time information, troops of the border outpost Bhimpur of the 61 Battalion BSF in South Dinajpur under the leadership of IG, Mr Gaudhi, had apprehended Ms Biswas and seized one mobile phone, one Bangladeshi SIM card and a few medicines manufactured in Bangladesh.