CBI to probe Assam-Meghalaya border clash

The CBI will probe the November 22 clash on the Assam-Meghalaya border in which six people were killed, five of them in firing by Assam Police, the home ministry announced on Friday amid a continuing backlash in Shillong that included a mob attack on a customs and excise official.

Inspector Alok Kumar, who is training at the National Academy of Customs, Indirect Taxes and Narcotics in the Meghalaya capital, was hospitalised in a critical condition after getting caught in the maelstrom of protest over the death of five villagers from the state in the clash four days ago. A forest guard from Assam was the sixth casualty in the incident, which has put the two neighbours on a collision course just when they were trying to settle the decades-old land disputes at the last six border flashpoints.

Meghalaya CM Conrad Sangma moved the National Human Rights Commission, seeking action for the alleged violation of human rights by cops from Assam.

Assam notified a separate judicial inquiry, appointing retired Gauhati HC judge Rumi Phukan to head the probe. Meghalaya, too, set up a special investigation team to probe the circumstances of the clash, apparently triggered by Assam cops going in pursuit of a truck allegedly ferrying smuggled timber.