At 4.30 pm on Tuesday, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi was chairing a series of meetings at the Assam Administrative Staff College in Guwahati to review the flood situation in the northeastern states, Kokrajhar in western Assam went up in flames.
All Bodo Minority Students' Union (ABMSU) president, Lafiqul Islam Ahmed, 33, was shot dead at the village market near his house. He was murdered near a hardware store in the Titaguri bazar, where he reportedly came to collect tiles.
The armed personal security officer (PSO), provided by the Assam Police, was not with him at the time of the murder. According to eye witnesses, two persons wearing helmets, came on a bike and shot the Ahmed dead from a close range. As he slumped on the ground bleeding from his chest, the killers rode off.
Chaos prevailed in market following the shooting with the district administration deploying forces to “avert any further untoward situation”. The ABMSU, meanwhile, issued a 24-hour ultimatum to the state police to identify the assassins and make arrests. Various organisations and parties condemned the incident.
The ABMSU members and supporters blocked NH 31 and the main roads of Kokrajhar, Chirang and Bongaigaon districts. Protesters also blocked NH 15 at Mangaldoi and Kharupetia in Darrang districts, staged protests and burnt tyres and the effigy of Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal, across Bodoland Territorial Areas District.
Although fingers have been pointed at the cattle smugglers, the police did not rule out the involvement of militants in the murder of Ahmed. “It’s too early to say anything. Investigations are going on and it will take some time to crack the case”, said Kokrajhar additional superintendent of police Tabu Ram Pegu.
Senior BJP leader and MP Bijoya Chakraborty said as Ahmed was a moderate Muslim leader, he had many enemies from among his own community as well. The cattle smugglers were also among them. A source said about three days back, Ahmed had shared a recording of a purported cellphone conversation between a senior police officer and a leader of the cattle smuggling gang, with the mediapersons, which could be the reason for his murder.
“Who can save him if both the police and the illegal cattle mafia are after him?” asked the residents of his village. “ He used to share information about cattle smuggling with reporters to bust these gangs and had also alleged that some senior police officers were involved in the racket” they said.
Indeed, BTAD is like the ‘wild west’ of Assam. Criminal groups in BTAD possess illegal weapons, although security forces claim that law and order has improved in the area. All Bodo Students’ Union president Pramod Boro condemned the killing and alleged that police and security forces were conducting operations against militant groups while the criminal gangs who are hand in glove with law enforcers and political forces go scot-free.
