GUWAHATI, Sept 27: Assam Police have arrested two persons in connection with Thursday’s eviction violence at Gorukhuti in Darrang district, official sources said on Monday.
The duo, identified as Md Asmat Ali Ahmed and Md Chand Mamud, were arrested on Sunday night. They are currently in police custody.
They have been accused of criminal conspiracy, instigating violence and mobilising crowds at the behest of Popular Front of India (PFI), an Islamist organisation, and its college-level wing, Campus Front of India (CFI).
According to reports, Chand Mamud is the president of Sonowa village panchayat while Asmat Ali is a former president of Bojona Pathar village panchayat.
The arrested persons are being interrogated and more persons are likely to be arrested based on their statements, police said.
Earlier, Darrang Police claimed to have identified six persons allegedly involved in the eviction violence that left at least two civilians dead and over 20 others, including police officials and personnel, injured.
Police however said that the six persons were yet to be arrested even as investigation is underway.
The Assam government had claimed to have gathered evidence implicating some persons, including a college lecturer, who might have provoked protesters to attack police personnel during the eviction drive on Thursday.
The state government has also sent a dossier to the Centre seeking a total ban on PFI, which is suspected to have played a role in the incident.
“We have very clear intelligence reports that certain people (who have been identified) have collected Rs 28 lakh from the poor and landless families at Gorukhuti in the past three months, promising that they would convince the government to stall the eviction drive. But when they could not resist the eviction drive, they mobilised the protesters to create havoc,” Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma informed.