Assam: ULFA-I linkman arrested for planting explosives on Independence Day

Guwahati, Sep 8 (IANS) A linkman of the banned militant outfit United Liberation Front of Asom-Independent (ULFA-I) was arrested for allegedly planting explosives in different locations across the state on Independence Day, police said on Sunday.

The arrested person was identified as Manab Kalita.

According to police, Kalita, who was arrested from Jorhat district, confessed that he has been working for ULFA-I and was actively involved in planting bombs in more than one location in Guwahati on the Independence Day.

"The ULFA-I linkman was active in the region for the last several days. He demanded extortion money from the owner of a tea garden in the upper Assam area. However, initially, the authority of the tea garden thought he was demanding money to befool people on the name of ULFA-I but actually he is an active cadre of the outlawed group," a senior police official told IANS.

During police interrogation, Kalita has revealed many things regarding the operation of ULFA-I to disrupt the celebration of Independence Day in Assam. However, the police are yet to issue an official statement regarding this due to security reasons.

To recall, several places in Assam faced a series of bomb threats on August 15 following the claim by ULFA-I that they had planted detonated bombs in 25 locations across the state.

The places include Tinsukia, Dibrugarh, Sivasagar, Nagaon and a few places in Guwahati as well. It is learned that ULFA-I placed bombs in at least eight spots in Guwahati city.

The outlawed group in a statement said that due to some technical errors, the bombs did not explode.

According to a statement by ULFA-I, they intended to protest violently by detonating the explosives during Independence Day festivities.

But between 6 am and 12 noon, "technical errors" prevented the bombs from detonating as intended.

A list of the targeted areas and pictures of certain bomb sites, including one close to the state secretariat in Dispur in Guwahati, were also published by ULFA-I.

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