GUWAHATI: The All Assam Students Union has reiterated its demand to seal the India-Bangladesh border in the wake the detection of a “secret tunnel” in Karimganj district connecting the country with neighbouring Bangladesh.
AASU chief adviser Samujjal Bhattacharjya on Monday said that the “discovery of asecret tunnel in Karimganj connecting India and Bangladesh is horrific.”
“It proves the callousness of the central and the state government. It is a threat to security and sovereignty, endangering the Assam border, which is an inexcusable crime. We demand total sealing of border as per Assam Accord,” Bhattacharjya said.
Meanwhile, a special investigation team in Karimganj district has started probing a case relating to the alleged abduction of a man belonging to Shilua who claimed to have been kidnapped to Bangladesh through a “tunnel” in a dense forest area close the international border at Kokaijur in Karimganj South constituency on December 27.
Dilowar Hussain, 27, was later released after the arrest of one of the suspected ‘masterminds’ of the abduction.
Police sources said the abductors had demanded a ransom of Rs 5lakh from Dilowar’s family and asked them to hand over the amount to one Alim Uddin, who hails from Nayagram near Shilua, for the victim’s release.
“However, Alim Uddin was arrested following an FIR lodged by the victim’s family at Nilambazar police station on Tuesday. The accused was produced before a court and remanded to two days’ police custody. Dilowar was subsequently released by the kidnappers without taking ransom,” the investigation officer told The Shillong Times.
Dilowar later told police that he was taken to Bangladesh through the tunnel after being abducted.
“The tunnel is basically an underground hume pipe (leading to the other side of the border) constructed by CPWD contractors in a thickly forested area adjacent to the international border fence,” he said.
Asked whether there were more persons involved in the abduction, the police officer said that the case was under thorough investigation since Tuesday.
Karimganj district in Barak Valley shares a 92-km border with Sylhet division of Bangladesh, of which about 41km is riverine.