Guwahati: Suspected Bodo militants kidnapped four traders on Friday night as fresh tension gripped the four districts of Bodoland Territorial Areas District in Assam prompting the government to clamp curfew in some areas.
Armed Bodo militants accosted seven traders, who were returning from work last night, at Bogoribari under Gobardhan police station of Baksa district. Four of them were abducted while three others managed to escape,locals said.
The victims were identified as Atwar Ali, Rubul Amin, Abu Bakkar Siddique and Saddam Hussain.
The three others who escaped claimed they later heard gunshots in the area. A joint team of police, army, CRPF and SSB has launched a massive combing operation in the area to trace the kidnapped victims.
On Saturday morning local villagers recovered the cycles, sandals and clothing belonging to the four kidnapped traders from a jungle in the nearby Labdanguri area, police said.
DGP Khagen Sarma, who briefed Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi about the incident today, said preliminary investigations suggest that the NDFB(S) is behind the incident.
“A search operation is on along the Beki river,” he said. Police sources said they suspect that the four victims might have been killed and their bodies thrown in the river.
The Baksa district administration has clamped curfew in areas under Gobardhan and Anandabazar police station. The All Assam Minority Students Union staged blockades on NH 31 in Chirang district of BTAD in protest against the incident.
They also burnt effigies of the Chief Minister. Clashes between Bodos and Muslims have kept the BTAD tense for several years now. (UNI)
