Three more bodies found

GUWAHATI: The situation remained tense in Bodoland Territorial Autonomous District (BTAD)'s Baksa district for the second day, after security forces recovered the bodies of the remaining three of the four persons, who were kidnapped by Bodo rebels on Friday.
The body of one of the persons, a 14-year-old, was recovered on the bank of Beki river in the district on Saturday.
On Sunday too, the three bodies were recovered from the bank of Beki river but at a different location. Police said that all the three bodies bore bullet injuries in the head.
The recovery of the three bodies at Santhaibari in the district threw the situation out of control in nearby areas as villagers defied the indefinite curfew and came out in the thousands on Sunday afternoon to prevent the police from taking the bodies for conducting post-mortem. The villagers even clashed with the police forcing the cops to resort to blank firing and tear gas shelling.
An assistant sub-inspector of the police was injured in the clash. Police have arrested seven persons involved in the clash with security forces. An indefinite curfew that was clamped by the district administration in Salbari sub-division and Anand Bazar in Baksa district after the abduction is continuing.
Even as chief minister Tarun Gogoi urged all sections of people in the area to maintain peace and harmony and announced an ex-gratia of Rs 8 lakh to the kin of all the deceased, the family members and villagers in Barpeta district, from where the four hailed, have refused to conduct the last rites till the chief minister visits the area to address their grievances.
"Gogoi has failed to give us security every time. We want him to come here and listen to our plight. Till then, we will not perform the 'janaza' (last rite)," said the relative of one of the deceased.
Assam Police on Sunday claimed to have identified deputy commandant of NDFB (S) B Birlangbai alias Lengra as being behind the kidnappings and killings of the four persons. A senior police official said, "The NDFB(S) deputy commandant is one of the 'most wanted' ultras of the state on whom the Assam police had announced a reward of Rs 5 lakh last year."
The All Bodo Students' Union (ABSU) president Pramod Boro alleged, "Despite repeated violence in the area, the state government has ignored the plight of common people. It's a criminal conspiracy that Assam government has not taken any firm step to contain the situation in BTAD."