Assam: 15 arrested for alleged involvement in Independence Day bombings

The Assam Police, in collaboration with the National Investigation Agency (NIA), have arrested 15 people, including three women, for their alleged involvement in planting bomb-like substances at 24 places in the state on Independence Day this year.

The Assam Police said the arrests were made on Saturday night at different locations following prolonged intelligence gathering. (Image source)

Terming the development as a “major breakthrough”, the Assam police said in a statement on Sunday that the arrests were made on Saturday night at various locations “after prolonged intelligence gathering” in the case of planting of “suspected IED (improvised explosive device)-like material”.

“The Assam Police, with technical support from NIA, conducted coordinated raids in different parts of the state and arrested 15 persons, including three women, yesterday evening,” the release said.

He added that the arrests were based on specific information received from various sources during the investigation into the attempted sabotage. All 15 defendants are being questioned in order to uncover a “larger conspiracy.”

“The initial questioning of the detainees revealed incriminating facts, and more information about the conspiracy should be revealed after longer questioning in due time,” the statement reads.

One person each from Tinsukia, Nagaon, Sadiya, Nalbari and Tamulpur districts, three persons each from Dibrugarh and Lakhimpur and two persons each from Guwahati and Jorhat were arrested.

Independence Day celebrations in Assam were marred when the banned United Liberation Front of Assam-Independent (ULFA-I) sent emails to several media houses in the state claiming it had planted bombs at 24 locations.

The message included detailed information about where 19 explosive devices had been placed. The exact locations of the other five were not given.

Security and police personnel who supervised parades and other events were soon sent to search for explosives.

Though the ULFA-I email mentioned that the devices did not explode due to a “technical error” and sought public help in locating them, the police took no chances and deployed bomb disposal squads to locate and neutralise the devices.

After a two-day search, 10 improvised explosive devices were found at various locations, including four in Guwahati. None of the devices exploded and no one was injured.

Assam Police has constituted several Special Investigation Teams (SITs) to investigate these cases and announced a reward of ₹5 lakh to anyone who provides “credible information about persons involved in manufacturing, transporting and planting these devices.”

It was decided that two cases relating to the recovery of bomb-like devices in Guwahati and Lakhimpur would be transferred to the National Investigation Agency (NIA).