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Assam resident dies in Mizoram police custody, CM Sonowal writes to Amit Shah
While the Assam Police claimed that the man was abducted, the Mizoram Police said that he was a drug deal who was caught entering the state and died at a health facility.
The ongoing border row between Assam and Mizoram took a turn for worse on Monday with the death of an Assam resident allegedly in the custody of Mizoram police.
Assam chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal wrote to Union home minister Amit Shah informing him about the abduction and death of Intazul Laskar. He also announced an ex-gratia of ₹5 lakh for the family of the victim.
Following the development, Sonowal directed newly appointed chief secretary Jishnu Barua and director general of police Bhaskar Jyoti Mahanta to rush to the border area and take stock of the situation there.
Expressing concern about the boundary row, the CM asked the police to remain alert and thwart all attempts to vitiate peace along the boundary between the two states.
According to reports, Intazul, a resident of Lailapur in Cachar district of Assam which lies along the border with Mizoram, was allegedly abducted by miscreants on Sunday morning.
“It is now confirmed that Intazul, who was abducted from the Assam side, died in custody of police in Kolasib district of Mizoram. The exact details of how he died will be known after thorough investigation,” BL Meena, superintendent of police, Cachar, said.
“We are trying to get the deceased’s body back and are in talks with Kolasib district officials. A case under section 365 of IPC for abduction has been registered at Dholai police station and investigation is underway,” he added.
Kolasib’s superintendent of police Vanlalfaka Ralte told PTI that Intazul Laskar (45), a well- known drug peddler, was apprehended on Sunday evening when he crossed the inter-state border to deliver a consignment and later died at a health facility.
The Mizoram government has termed the death of Intazul as unfortunate and asked the Assam government to ensure safety and security of Mizos residing in Assam following the incident.
The Mizoram home department wrote to Assam asking to “prevent any retaliatory attacks by vested parties and anti-social elements within Assam especially on the inter-state border on the issue of the unfortunate death of a resident of Lailapur at Vairengte this (Monday) morning”.
The situation along the border between two states have remained tense for the past week after residents of Assam blocked the NH 306 to Mizoram demanding withdrawal of personnel of the Mizoram police and India Reserve Battalion from the disputed areas along the boundary.
While Assam maintains that security personnel from Mizoram have encroached parts of its territory and have started construction, the Mizoram side claims the areas belong to them and have refused to call back its personnel till normalcy returns.
Last month, several people on both sides of the border were injured in clashes after some miscreants from Mizoram allegedly burnt down some huts at Lailapur. Locals on the Assam side had blocked the highway in protest against the incident.
On October 21, senior officials of both states had a meeting in Assam’s Silchar where they had agreed to restore normalcy in the border areas. Mizoram had assured it would call back its troops which had entered Assam side. Following this, trucks had started plying between both states.
Assam and Mizoram share a 164.6 km boundary. There have been skirmishes on both sides earlier as well as both sides claiming portions of land along the boundary as theirs.
