Four bodies found near India-Bhutan border

Police suspect two bodies are of SSB personnel abducted on Dec.6

Four bodies were recovered by the police near the India-Bhutan border in Chirang district on Thursday. Two of the bodies are suspected to be of the Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) personnel, who were kidnapped by militants of the National Democratic Front of Boroland (Songbjit) from near Panbari area of the district on December 6, Chirang Deputy Commissioner Virendra Mittal told The Hindu.

The NDFB faction had abducted five SSB personnel but three were released later. The other two could not be traced since then. “It is more or less confirmed that two of the four bodies were of the abducted SSB personnel. We are awaiting the family members for identification. The other two bodies are a bit older and yet to identified. We suspect it might be of two of the four Bodo persons who went missing in the district about one-and-half months ago,” he added.

‘Black day’

Meanwhile, protest continues over the death of two students in an encounter between a joint team of the police and Army and militants of the NDFB (Songbijit), on December 10. The All Bodo Students’ Union (ABSU) observed Thursday as ‘black day’ seeking stern punishment to “guilty officials involved in the fake encounter of school students in the name of encounter.”

ABSU president Pramod Boro said the student body had also sought intervention of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) through the Asian Centre for Human Rights. “The AHRC will formally move the NHRC in this regard,” he said. Students under the banner of ABSU took out silent protest rally in Runikhata with the bodies of the two students — Pranjit Narzary and Jiri Narzary — before their burial.

Probe ordered

Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi said the State government had ordered an additional Chief Secretary-level probe to bring out the truth.

The Chirang Deputy Commissioner said: “During inquest, the two students were found to be aged around 20. However, school records show that Pranjit Narzary was in class VI of the Salbari M.E. School and was aged around 15. Jiri Narzary, who was studying in the local high school in class X, was aged about 17. We are still awaiting the post-mortem report to know their actual age,” he said. Nikhodi Narzary, who was injured, was studying in class VII of the Salbari M.E. School and was aged about 14, he said.

“It’s fake encounter”

The district witnessed violent protest on Wednesday with the locals alleging that the two were killed in a “fake encounter.” The police, however, claimed that the trio were NDFB (Songbijit) cadres and two of them died in the exchange of fire that ensued when the militants were challenged.