Assam-Mizoram Border Row: CM Himanta Sarma, Top Officials Booked Under ‘Attempt to Murder’ Charges | Earth Indian

New Delhi: Amid a simmering border row, the Mizoram police has filed a case against Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and other top officials from the state over the violent clash that took place on the outskirts of Vairengte town in Mizoram’s Kolasib district earlier this week. Mizoram Inspector General of Police (Headquarter) John Neihlaia informed that Assam CM and other top officials of the state have been booked under several sections of the Indian Penal Code, including an attempt to murder and criminal conspiracy.

The four senior Assam Police officers named in the FIR are Inspector General of Police (IGP) Anurag Aggarwal, Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of Cachar Devojyoti Mukherjee, Cachar Superintendent of Police Cahndrakant Nimbalkar, and officer in-charge of Dholai police station, Sahab Uddin, Neihlaia said.

“The FIR was lodged by the state police at the Vairengte police station late Monday after a gun fight between the Mizoram and the Assam police forces near the border town. Cachar Deputy Commissioner Keerthi Jalli and Cachar Divisional Forest Officer Sunnydeo Chaudhary have also been booked under the same charges”, he stated, adding that cases were also registered against 200 unidentified Assam Police personnel.

Tension along the border with Mizoram in Cachar and Hailakandi districts of Assam have been escalating since October 2020 with frequent incidents of burning of houses and encroachment of land. The two northeastern states share a 164.6-km border between Assam’s Cachar, Hailakandi and Karimganj districts, and Mizoram’s Kolasib, Mamit and Aizawl.

Both states have differing interpretations of their territorial border. While Mizoram believes that its border lies along an inner line’ drawn up in 1875 to protect tribals from outside influence, Assam goes by a district demarcation done in the 1930s.

(With agency inputs)

By Shivam Urkude || Earth Indian