The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Monday (December 16, 2024) arrested an alleged operative of the banned terrorist outfit, ULFA (I), on the charge of planting improvised explosive devices (IEDs) in Guwahati during the Independence Day celebrations this year.
“NIA teams, with the active support of Assam Police, carried out searches at the house of Jahnu Baruah alias Arnab Axom in Dibrugarh… in the early hours of this morning… he was summoned to the local police establishment for further examination,” said the agency.
The accused, during preliminary investigation, confessed to his involvement in planting four of the 11 IEDs that were seized by the State police. The IEDs were planted as part of a protest and the Independence Day boycott call given by ULFA(I) chief Paresh Baruah. Through a video clip, he had allegedly warned of dire consequences for disobeying the instructions.
Based on the findings, the agency arrested Jahnu who was under surveillance for the past several weeks. “He was one of the several suspects identified by the NIA, on the basis of technical and human intelligence, as being involved in collection and transportation of the IEDs that were planted to trigger large-scale explosions in Assam on the occasion of I-Day,” the agency said.
The NIA had taken over the investigation of the case from the State police on September 17 and found that the IEDs were planted at the behest of Aishang Asom alias Abhijit Gogoi and other top leaders of ULFA (I).
Published – December 16, 2024 10:52 pm IST
