The Assam government on Monday announced that a judicial inquiry would be conducted into the violence in the Bodoland Territorial Area District (BTAD).
Meanwhile, an NIA team, which arrived here on Monday on the government’s request, conducted a pre-screening of the case. The team will submit its report to the Union Home Ministry, which will decide if the agency should take up the investigation or not. Another NIA delegation, headed by an officer of the rank of Director-General, will visit the State on Tuesday.
Assam Home Commissioner G.D. Tripathi told The Hindu that the situation in the BTAD had improved significantly. Curfew was relaxed for six hours in Kokrajhar, Baksa and Chirang districts.
The past 72 hours had been incident free. However, violence was reported from Nagaon and Sivasagar during a six-hour bandh called by the Muslim Students’ Union, Assam. Protesters threw stones at police personnel and damaged public vehicles, injuring several persons.
The State-level Crisis Management Group, headed by Chief Secretary J. Khoshla, reviewed the situation and directed the security forces to launch an intensive drive with Army assistance, to recover illegal weapons in the BTAD.
In a statement, Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi denied media reports that the government had decided to arm the people of the district with guns.
Mr. Gogoi accused the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate, Narendra Modi, of creating bad blood in the BTAD. “Modi’s wild allegation that rhinos are being killed to make room for Bangladeshis is one of the reasons for the bad blood in the BTAD areas,” he tweeted.
