Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has ordered an investigation into the firing incident along the Assam-Meghalaya border in the West Karbi Anglong district that resulted in the death of six people on Tuesday. A forest guard was among the dead.
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The Assam government has decided to provide Rs 5 lakh each to the next of kin of the six deceased persons.
Himanta Biswa Sarma, who is in Gujarat to campaign for the assembly polls, said: “We have ordered a judicial investigation and have referred the matter to CBI. SP has been transferred and local police and forest officials have been placed under suspension.”
THE INCIDENT
Six persons, including a forest guard, were killed in violence along the Assam-Meghalaya border in West Karbi Anglong district (West Jaintia Hills) in the early hours of Tuesday after a truck transporting illegal timber was intercepted.
As the forest team stopped the truck in the Mukru area around 3 am, the driver tried to speed away. At this, the forest guards opened fire and deflated the tire of the truck. The driver and two others were arrested, though some others managed to escape.
Meghalaya CM Conrad Sangma said five of the deceased were from Meghalaya and the slain forest guard was from Assam. The injured persons were rushed to hospital. Meghalaya, too, has ordered a magisterial inquiry into the incident.
Mobile internet services were suspended in seven districts for 48 hours after the incident.
(With inputs from ANI.)