Assam CM orders CBI probe, hints at PFI role in eviction drive firing
GUWAHATI: The Assam government on Saturday ordered a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the shooting in Dhalpur village of Darrang district, even as chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said members of Islamic outfit Popular Front of India (PFI) had visited the village a day before an eviction drive turned violent, in which two people were killed and nine policemen injured.
“We have ordered a CBI inquiry into the matter and we have to find out who has mobilised 10,000 people even after a clear agreement with the organisation that the eviction will happen peacefully,” Sarma told reporters.
“Among 27 injured policemen, two or three were Muslim personnel, who are admitted in the hospital. The eviction drive was initiated with an agreed principle that the landless will be provided two acres each as per the land policy and the representatives agreed,” he said.
“This eviction drive was urgent. It was not done overnight. A Congress delegation had met me and agreed on land allotment to the landless. 27,000 acres of land have to be used in a productive manner. There was a temple, which was also encroached upon by people,” he added.
Facing flak over the handling of the controversial eviction of “illegal settlers” in Darrang district on Thursday, Sarma said evidence were emerging that implicates certain people, including a college lecturer.
“We have the names of six people. Prior to the day of the incident, the PFI visited the site in the name of carrying food items to evicted families. Various evidence are now emerging, implicating certain people, including a lecturer,” he said.
Meanwhile, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said freedom does not mean anything when it is not for everyone and asked what ‘Amrit Mahotsav’ meant when the “poison of hatred” is being spread in the country.
“When the poison of hatred is being spread in the country then what is ‘Amrit Mahotsav’? What does freedom mean if it is not for everyone,” he tweeted. Amrit Mahotsav is being observed to mark 75 years of Independence.