According to an official source, Rabi Basumatary, the driver who was also abducted by banned United Liberation Front of Asom militants.
The anti-talks faction of the banned United Liberation Front of Asom called off its 12-hour Assam bandh after the visit of Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh to the poll-bound state on Monday has been rescheduled.
Armed forces have heightened security all over Assam on the eve of the 'Raising Day' of the banned ULFA on Monday. All public vehicles moving on State Highways have been placed under the scanner by security forces while check posts have been set up on the way to all vital installations and VVIP residential areas to prevent possible a strike by the ULFA.
In a stunning comeback, Hemant Soren's Jharkhand Mukti Morcha-led alliance on Saturday stormed to power in Jharkhand for a second consecutive term, winning 56 seats in the 81-member assembly, despite an all-out blitz by the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance which managed only 24 seats.
It is not yet clear whether Kuldeep's release has been secured by paying ransom to the militants.
ULFA and eight other militant outfits of the Northeast had announced the 'ban' on screening Hindi films from November 15 saying they were a tool of 'cultural invasion'.
Paswan, who undertook a visit to the worst-hit areas of Upper Assam, said the state government has not started relief work in many camps. He suggested that relief work should be speeded up.
In a statement, the pro-talks faction of the ULFA said: "The independence India attained 64 years back has virtually no meaning for poor farmers and rural folk in Assam who have been reeling under perennial problem of flood and erosion while the government has miserably failed to mitigate their agony"
Ruling parties held sway in most of the 13 states in the assembly byelection results declared on Saturday, with the Bharatiya Janata Party and its allies wresting seats in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Rajasthan and the Trinamool Congress sweeping West Bengal.
The Assam police no longer consider the anti-talks faction of the United Liberation Front of Asom led by Paresh Barua a major threat because of the depleting base of the outfit that 'doesn't have any more dedicated and committed cadres', said a highly-placed source in the state police.
Senior superintendent of police, Guwahati city, informed that a bomb planted by suspected United Liberation Front of Asom militants rocked Anthgaon area in the heart Guwahati at around 12.30 pm on Monday.
The ULFA leadership has been demanding the release from jail of five of its top leaders as one of the conditions for facilitating peace talks with the government.
Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi on Wednesday asked the banned United Liberation Front of Assom to come forward to find a solution to the insurgency problem plaguing the state. Gogoi said the banned outfit had lost the opportunity to initiate a political dialogue last year when the government had declared a unilateral ceasefire during August-September. "Still, we are keeping our doors open for talks with the ULFA provided it wants a political solution," he said.
Party general secretary Arun Singh told a press conference that Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal will contest from Majuli and minister Himanta Biswa Sarma from Jalukbari, constituencies these two top BJP state leaders currently represent in the 126-member assembly.
Officials of the labour department said that the migrant workers mostly belong to the poorest sections of Dalits and backward castes and had migrated to earn a livelihood.
Goswami has played a key role in talks in the past and is doing this personally.
Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi told reporters in Guwahati that his government will cease all its operations against ULFA if the group stopped its subversive activities and responded to the government's offer for talks.
ULFA militants had called for a boycott of the Independence Day celebrations in the state.
He denied that his state government was showing softness towards the ULFA and was giving them a chance to regroup by agreeing to ceasefire.
A group of 5 armed militants of the anti-talk ULFA faction opened fire at some people at Bahbon village.
Police suspect the gunmen belonged to the ULFA-Independent faction as they were in battle fatigue.
Both the MASS activists and driver of the vehicle were arrested by the police. Shyamal Sharma is the general secretary of Darrang district unit of the MASS.
A tripartite agreement among five insurgent groups of Assam, the Centre and the state government was signed on Saturday to end years of violence in the Karbi Anglong region.
The Assam government announced a compensation of Rs 5 lakh and a job for the next of the kin of the deceased.
In an attempt to stop it being called the anti-talks faction of the United Liberation Front of Assam, the faction led by Paresh Barua has changed its name to United Liberation Front of Assam (Independent) or ULFA(I).
Two person were killed and 20 others, including four police men, injured in a bomb blast near a temporary election office of BJP in Assam's Goalpara district.
The Bharatiya Janata Party's 'mission 84' (winning 84 out of 126 assembly seats in Assam in 2016 polls) has run into a hurdle put up by the United Liberation Front of Assam-Independent. The militant outfit has threatened to use force to stymie all activities of the saffron party in Assam after January 10, 2015.
Two of the three ONGC employees who were abducted allegedly by suspected United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) leaders on April 21, have been rescued.
The outlawed United Liberation Front of Assam (independent), has fired a broadside at Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi for Assam government's decision to present coveted Srimanta Sankardeva Award to yesteryear's celebrated actress of Hindi cinema, Sharmila Tagore.
'Most senior Congress leaders in Assam have a secret understanding with the BJP.' 'They are hobnobbing with the chief minister for their self-interest.'
India's tactical and operational response demonstrated its ability to prosecute tri-service operations, even without a formal tri-service doctrine or the higher command structure needed to coordinate it, points out Ajai Shukla.
Gam secured 67,242 votes against Basumatary's 25,101 while the third candidate, Bhaity Richong of the Socialist Unity Centre of India-Communist, got 2,265 votes.
The Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), which trained a batch of Assam's United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) militants in 1991-92, considered the rebel group's chief Paresh Baruah a prize catch and did not want to offend him even after he was unwilling to take the agency's commands on conducting operations in the northeastern state, claims a new book.
Days after Al Qaeda issued a video threatening to carry out its campaign in India, Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi on Saturday said the terror group is trying to set up base in the state and had "tacit understanding" with United Liberation Front of Asom.
After a series of meetings, Sarma told reporters that BJP's Assam legislature party is likely to meet in Guwahati on Sunday and all questions related to the next government will be answered there.
'Gogoi will be remembered as someone who recovered Assam as a state, as a people and society from the fear of insurgency that had struck the state from the 1980s till 2000.'
The saffron party won 60 of the 126 seats, its allies Asom Gana Parishad nine and United Peoples Party (Liberal) six. Congress bagged 29 seats, its partner All India United Democratic Front 16 and Bodo Democratic Front four.
Finance Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma added to the mystery by declaring only that the next CM would be from the BJP, without naming Sarbananda Sonowal, the CM of the outgoing government.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances