Killings in Meghalaya not related to Assam boundary row: Centre
HY News
24 November, 2022 12:10 pm IST
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A day after five Meghalaya villagers and an Assam Forest guard were killed in a firing incident on the Assam-Meghalaya border, a Union Home Ministry official said that the incident was not related to the border dispute between the two States.
It is reported that Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said in Delhi that Assam Forest guards and villagers clashed over the alleged smuggling of timber. He said that “unprovoked firing” could have been controlled and noted that officials have been suspended already. He added that the case will be referred to either the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) or the National Investigation Agency (NIA).
In the meantime, news agency PTI reported that Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Sangma will on Thursday lead a cabinet delegation to New Delhi to meet Union Home Minister Amit Shah and discuss the tense border situation between Assam and the hill state following clashes in Mukroh village, and also demand a federal probe into the violence.
The meeting, slated for Thursday evening, comes a day after the Assam Cabinet announced that it will hand over the probe into the violence to the CBI, and asked the state police to show restraint while dealing with civilian disturbances.
Tension brewed in border areas in the aftermath of the incident, with an Assam forest office being burnt down by angry villagers as well as some vehicles from the neighbouring state in different parts of Meghalaya.
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