CRPF's elite force kills teenager in Assam

Cobra commandos of the Central Reserved Police Force on Thursday killed a 13-year-old Adivasi boy in a case of 'mistaken identity'.

Cobra commandos of the Central Reserved Police Force on Thursday killed a 13-year-old Adivasi boy in a case of 'mistaken identity'.

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The boy, identified as Rakha Gaur, of Malasi Namkhi Gaur Basti village in northern Karbi Anglong district of Assam, had gone to an adjoining forest to answer nature's call around 5am. But he ran into a trap that the elite force had laid for Karbi tribal militants involved in abduction and extortion in tea estates in the area.

The commandos said they had mistaken the boy for a militant, but the agitated villagers said he was gunned down without any provocation. Hundreds of people from nearby villages dominated by Adivasi tea plantation workers gheraoed the local police station soon after demanding action against the boy's killers. They also pelted stones and vandalized the police station.

One of the missiles hit district superintendent of police Anurag Agarwal on the head. "We exercised restraint to let tempers cool, but the situation there is quite tense," he said.