Centre hands over probe to NIA

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday visited Bishwanath Chariali in Sonitpur district to review the prevailing situation over mass killing of tribal in Assam by Songbijit faction of National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB) on December 23.

Singh, who was accompanied with Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju, decided not to visit the sites of incidents and relief camps. They met the adivasi representatives at the circuit house in Bishwanath Chariali and also held talks with different political and social organisations.

Talking to media persons, Singh said, “We have asked the NIA to probe the massacre and will continue to follow a zero tolerance policy for such crafted terror. We will take strong measures to deal with the outfit and will control it effectively. We want to see the links of such groups and to know with whom they have connections.”

Without revealing much about the operation against the militants, he said, “We had a meeting with the state government officials on issues related to border and area development of the affected areas. Curfew has been also imposed in the affected areas of Sonitpur and Chirang districts along with parts of Dhubri and Baksa districts as precautionary measure.”

Meanwhile, fresh incidents of violence have been reported taking the toll to 78 on Thursday morning from Gossaigaon area in Kokrajhar where several houses of Bodos have been set ablaze by adivasis out of retaliation. Sources said, at Sonitpur, which was worst affected, six more bodies were recovered on Thursday morning from Maitalu Basti under Zinzia police station bordering Arunachal Pradesh.

PM has already expressed grief over the loss of lives in the militant attacks in Assam. An ex-gratia of Rs 2 lakh each to the kin of the deceased and Rs 50,000 to seriously injured persons was sanctioned from the Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund. An additional Rs 86 lakh is being released to state government from PMNRF. The NDFB faction opposed to peace talks had warned it would retaliate after Assam Police launched an operation against them, particularly in the area bordering Bhutan.