Police on Saturday apprehended one individual suspected of acting as a linkman for the banned insurgent outfit United Liberation Front of Asom (Independent), or ULFA-I. Officials confirmed that the accused, identified as Shibanan Saikia, was arrested from a tea factory located in Assam’s Charaideo district.
According to a senior police official, Saikia had been under surveillance for some time. “We have kept a close watch on Saikia’s activity. He has been working as a linkman to the militant outfit ULFA-I. We have taken him into custody in a joint operation with the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF). Saikia will be interrogated to unearth further links with ULFA-I,” the officer stated.
This arrest comes on the heels of a major breakthrough by the National Investigation Agency (NIA), which has filed a chargesheet against three key operatives of ULFA-I in connection with a 2024 Independence Day IED planting case in Guwahati.
The chargesheet, filed on Friday, names Paresh Baruah, Abhijit Gogoi, and Jahnu Boruah as the accused. They have been booked under various stringent provisions, including the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), and the Explosive Substances Act.
The NIA stated that the trio was involved in a plot to carry out multiple IED explosions across Assam, including one that was successfully planted at Dispur Last Gate in Guwahati. The aim was to disrupt Independence Day celebrations and spread panic among the public.
“The trio were found linked with the IED planted by the terror outfit at Dispur Last Gate, Guwahati, Assam, as part of the ULFA (I) conspiracy to trigger multiple IED blasts across Assam, including at Dispur Last Gate, to disrupt the I-Day celebrations last year,” read an official statement by the NIA.
The investigation, which the NIA took over in September 2024, uncovered that the explosives were designed to inflict death, injuries, and property damage, with a larger objective of threatening India’s unity, integrity, security, and sovereignty.
“The IEDs had been planted to cause death/injuries to persons and/or loss/damage/destruction to property, with the intent to threaten the unity, integrity, security and sovereignty of India, and to strike terror among the people of the country,” the agency added.
Further investigations into both Saikia’s involvement and the broader ULFA-I network are currently ongoing.
