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Manipur man linked to drug case killed in Assam encounter, 2 cops injured: Police
A 46-year-old man from Manipur’s Tamenglong district was killed and two police personnel were injured in an encounter with police on Thursday morning in Assam’s Cachar district
A 46-year-old man from Manipur’s Tamenglong district was killed and two police personnel were injured in an encounter with police on Thursday morning in Assam’s Cachar district, officers said.
Police identified the deceased as Sailen Daungal, a former member of the Manipur-based extremist group United Kuki National Army (UKNA), who was allegedly involved in an attack on Assam Police near the inter-state border last week, in which a constable sustained bullet injuries.
“Daungal was one of the members of the drug peddlers’ group which attacked our officials last week and as per our records, he was also a former militant in Manipur,” Lakhipur’s co-district superintendent of police Prithviraj Rajkhowa said.
He said Daungal had moved to Lakhipur during the ethnic clashes in Manipur and started living in an area called Buma Punji. “We found that he was regularly involved in inter-state transportation of narcotic substances and firearms,” Rajkhowa said, adding that Daungal was named in cases related to the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act and Arms Act.
On May 5, Havildar Sharif Hossain Kazi (55) was shot twice by a group of suspected drug peddlers at Diglang area of Jirighat near the Assam-Manipur border. Kazi was initially shifted to Silchar Medical College and Hospital (SMCH) and later airlifted to Guwahati for advanced treatment.
Cachar’s senior superintendent of police Sanjib Saikia said that a case was registered at Jirighat Police Station on May 6 and Assam Police identified two prime suspects, Daungal was one of them.
“We located them last night and a police team managed to apprehend them at Buma Punji. During interrogation, they said they would help police recover some hidden firearms, but upon reaching the spot they attacked our officials using firearms,” he said.
The SSP said that officers from the Jirighat Police Station retaliated by firing several rounds, during which Daungal sustained bullet injuries. “He was shifted to Silchar Medical College and Hospital (SMCH) immediately, but he died during treatment,” Saikia added.
CDSP Rajkhowa said on Thursday that a group of more than five individuals are involved in the May 5 incident.
“One of them has died and another is currently under police custody. We are investigating the matter further and the remaining accused will be arrested soon. This is linked to an inter-state racket and we are probing the matter thoroughly,” he told HT on Thursday evening.
The two police personnel who sustained injuries during Thursday’s operation were identified as Nabajit Tanti and Santosh Biswas, officers said.
Police said the body of Daungal was sent for postmortem and his past activities are being examined further. His family members also reached Silchar to receive the body but refused to speak to the media.
