GUWAHATI: The Assam government has sought a probe by the NIA (National Investigation Agency) into the custodial death of a man from the Cachar district in Mizoram.
“Assam government has already recommended the NIA probe into the whole incident and border disputes. We are hoping for a permanent solution soon as Hon’ble CM Shri @sarbanandsonwal has taken up the matter in a top priority manner...” Assam’s Forest Minister Parimal Suklabaidya, who is camping in Cachar, tweeted on Tuesday.
He said Sonowal was personally monitoring the situation and was in talks with the Central government to achieve a permanent solution to the boundary dispute.
Intaz Ali (40) died under mysterious circumstances on Monday amidst a bitter border row between the two states. The Mizoram government claimed Ali was a drug peddler who died at a hospital. The Assam government claimed he was abducted by the miscreants from the inter-state border.
In a letter to the Assam government, the Mizoram government wrote that Ali, who was apprehended by the youth organisation “Young Mizo Association” for selling 420 mg of heroin at Vairengte in Mizoram and handed over to the Excise and Narcotics Department, was found dead on his hospital bed on Monday. He was taken to the hospital on Sunday evening for a medical check-up and subsequently admitted.
Meanwhile, Ali’s body was brought to Cachar on Tuesday. The last rites will be performed on Wednesday. After visiting the family, Suklabaidya assured that the persons involved in the “heinous crime” would not be spared.
At the instruction of Sonowal, Assam’s Chief Secretary Jishnu Baruah and Director General of Police Bhaskar Jyoti Mahanta are camping in Cachar. Mahanta asserted the Assam Police would not tolerate any act of injustice against “our land and our people”. Baruah insisted on the restoration of peace on the border.
The boundary dispute flared up last month when at least eight people from both sides were injured. Several houses and roadside shops near the border were also torched. Earlier, the Centre had held talks with both states towards restoring normalcy.