The Assam Pradesh Congress Committee on Saturday evening decided to suspend sacked state education minister Ripun Borah from the primary membership of the party in the wake of his arrest by Central Bureau of Investigation on a bribery charge on June 3. The APCC informed the media that sacked minister Borah was suspended from the party after the AICC gave the approval for it. The AICC former minister was a member of the party's national level committee.
The Assam government has asked the CBI to probe the recent increase in rhino poaching in protected areas of the state.
The Indian Army on Thursday claimed to have busted a camp of the 28th battalion of the proscribed United Liberation Front of Asom at Lalpahar in Lohit district of Arunachal Pradesh.
Even as the Indian Army wants the imposition of tougher laws in support of the counter-insurgency operations against the banned United Liberation Front of Asom, the insurgent group has termed the move, 'a reflection of the failure of the Army' in demoralising and neutralising ULFA members despite its prolonged operations in Assam.
State Bank of India staff all over the country will observe a strike on June 6 demanding security to their counterparts working under threat from insurgents in different parts of the militancy-affected north-east. The All India State Bank Officers' Federation has raised concerns that the SBI's staff posted in the north-east are being forced to work under constant threats from insurgents in different parts of the region, especially in Nagaland and Manipur.
The Assam government has decided to institute a probe into the alleged diversion of development funds by the the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party-Autonomous State Demand Committee combine in the North Cachar Hills autonomous district council to the Black Widow militants' coffers.
At least two people, including a woman, were killed when police opened fire on a mob that tried to attack a police station at Krishnai in Goalpara district in western Assam. Curfew was clamped in Goalpara after the incident. About ten people, including policemen and Central Reserve Police Force personnel, were injured in the clash. The mob, which stormed the police station, was trying to free ten people who had been arrested by the police on charges of abduction and murder.
At least 14 Naga rebels were killed in a fierce gun battle between two factions of the Nationalist Socialist Council of Nagalim at the outskirts of Dimapur town in Nagaland at 10 am on Friday.
Eleven people, including a Railways locomotive driver, were killed and at least two others were injured when suspected Dimaa Halam Daogah (Jewel) militants carried out two separate attacks in North Cachar Hill district on Thursday morning. According to a police source, ten people were killed when the militants also known as Black Widows- waylaid five trucks at Panimur area, which falls under the Umrangshu police station, at around 8.30 am today morning.
The Northeast Frontier Railway has suspended night running of train services in Lumding-Badarpur section in Assam that traverses through the insurgency ravaged North Cachar Hills where Black Widow militants have triggered fresh violence. The attacks have sparked sharp protests from Railway staff and labourers working in Lumding-Badarpur section. The workers have threatened to stop operation of trains unless they are provided adequate security cover by the state government.
The police informed that a group of armed militants suspected to be from Dima Halam Daogah (Jewel Garlosa) or Black Widow opened indiscrimate fire at the construction workers killing eight of them on the spot. The labourers were engaged by a contractor working in the multi-crore gauge conversion project of the Indian Railways in Lumding-Badarpur Hill Section under Northeast Frontier Railway.
The actual peace talks with the NDFB, whose original demand was for a separate homeland for Bodo tribe, was yet to get off as the outfit took a very long time to submit its charter of demands. "Now that we have submitted the charter of demands to New Delhi, it is now the turn of the government of India to show its sincerity to solve the NDFB problem and restore peace in Bodo heartland in Assam," NDFB spokesman S Sanjarang said.
The Manipur government has set itself on course to arm villagers as special police officers in the worst insurgency-affected pockets of the state.
As the regional parties have agreed 'in principle' to join hands in forming one single force to give challenge to Congress, the stage is also set for fomer Assam chief minister and founder president of Asom Gana Parishad Prafulla Kumar Mahanta for coming back to the party he had formed in 1985 as a culmination of Assam's agitation against illegal migrants.
The Meghalaya government has sought a nuclear power plant either in Meghalaya or any other suitable part of the Northeast India as a pre-condition for uranium mining in Meghalaya provided there would be no health or environment hazards because of the mining process.
A jawan of the Indian Army and a militant of the banned ULFA were killed in a fierce gun-battle that took place at Dalangghat village in north Assam late on Thursday night. A fierce encounter took place once the team of Army men came face-to-face with a three-member group of ULFA militants. One of the militants was killed and another injured while the third militant managed to flee.
Assam police has arrested 4 people in connection with the rape and murder case of a 23 year old woman in Chepon in Sivasagar district.
As the state Wildlife and Forest Department's all 'efforts to gear up vigil in the habitats of endangered one-horned Asiatic rhinoceros' has come to a naught, the All Assam Students Union alleging nexus between rhino poachers and a section of people in power in the state has demanded an investigation by the Central Bureau of Investigation into incidents of rhino poaching in the state.
The banned United Liberation Front of Assom has only 100 cadres left in southern Assam, the Army has claimed. The statement comes in the wake of the surrender of 27 ULFA cadres at the Tamulpur Army base in Udalguri district of Assam. The Army claimed that the ULFA's 709 battalion, which has been very active in southern Assam, has become considerably weak in view of so many cadres surrendering.
A source in the chief minister's office informed that the judicial inquiry would continue simultaneously along with the investigation that was being carried out by the Additional Chief Secretary of the State Alok Party. Gogoi has made it clear that no official would be spared if found guilty of intentional killing of 'any innocent person' in the name of counter-insurgency operation in general.