GUWAHATI, March 31: With counter-insurgency operations under the unified command structure entering its 15th month in Assam, more and more people are coming out to complain to the police about threats from militants belonging to both United Liberation Front of Assam and the two Bodo outfits, highly-placed sources in the State police department said here today. The sources claimed that police all over the State were receiving calls from such people under threat by the dozen every week, which has helped the police crackdown on the militants in a better manner.It is worth mentioning that in Guwahati city alone, two militants were apprehended during the past week, while one ULFA rebel was killed while trying to escape.
Police said that of the three militants belonging to the ULFA, who had come to collect money from the owner of Sivakasi Tubes and Industries, a local industrial firm on Monday, one was shot dead, while another was caught after he was injured in a shoot-out. The third militant however escaped,taking cover of darkness.
The dead youth was later identified as Raju Talukdar of Nalbari while the one apprehended is Ratul Gogoi alias Amin Bordoloi of Sonapur near Guwahati. The youths had earlier served an extortion notice of Rs six lakh on the entrepreneur.
Earlier last week, police nabbed one militant belonging to the outlawed Bodoland Liberation Tigers (BLT) from near downtown hospital in the city after the police laid a trap by posing as the driver of a businessman who was asked to come to a particular place to hand over money.
``The people are increasingly coming out to register complaints against extortions by militants,'' the police sources said. They also claimed that it had successfully prevented the outlawed National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB) from collecting money from a number of businessmen of the city after receiving complaints about extortion notes being served on them.As many as seven other ULFA militants were killed in two other encounters in Jorhat and Kokrajhar during thepast one week, with police sources claiming that the rebels were being increasingly pushed to the wall.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
