Assam: 15 arrested for alleged involvement in Independence Day bombings

Describing the development as a “major breakthrough”, Assam police said in a press release issued on Sunday that the arrests were made at various locations on Saturday evening “after lengthy intelligence gathering” in cases of placement of “suspected IED-like materials (improvised explosive devices)”.

“Assam Police, with technical assistance from NIA, conducted coordinated raids in different parts of the state and arrested 15 persons, including three women, last night,” the press release said.

It added that the arrests were based on specific information obtained from various sources during the investigation into attempted sabotage. All 15 defendants are being interrogated to uncover “the larger conspiracy.”

“After preliminary interrogations of the arrested persons, incriminating facts have come to light and it is expected that further information about the conspiracy will come to light in due course after lengthy interrogations,” the press release said.

While one person each was arrested from Tinsukia, Nagaon, Sadiya, Nalbari and Tamulpur districts, three persons each were arrested from Dibrugarh and Lakhimpur and two persons each from Guwahati and Jorhat.

Independence Day celebrations in Assam were marred when the banned United Liberation Front of Asom-Independent (ULFA-I) sent emails to several media houses in the state claiming to have planted bombs at 24 locations.

The email contained details of the locations where 19 explosive devices were placed, while the exact locations of five others were not mentioned.

Security forces and police officers deployed at parades and other events were soon tasked with searching for the explosive devices.

Although ULFA-I’s email mentioned that the bombs would not detonate due to a “technical glitch” and requested the public’s help in locating them, the police took no chances and sent bomb disposal teams to locate and defuse the bombs.

After two days of searches, ten bombs were found in various locations, including four in Guwahati. None of the bombs exploded and no one was injured.

The Assam Police set up several Special Investigation Teams (SITs) to investigate the cases and announced a reward of ₹5 lakh to anyone who “provides credible information on persons involved in the manufacture, transportation and placement of these devices”.

It was decided to hand over two cases relating to the recovery of bomb-like devices in Guwahati and Lakhimpur to the National Investigation Agency (NIA).