Assam: NIA arrests ULFA (I) operative for planting IEDs on I-Day in Guwahati

The National Investigation Agency (NIA), on December 16 arrested an operative of the banned terrorist outfit ULFA (I) in connection with the planting of (Improvised Explosive Devices) IEDs in Guwahati, Assam, during the 2024 Independence Day celebrations.

According to a release, NIA teams with assistance from the Assam Police, conducted searches at the house of Jahnu Baruah alias Arnab Axom in Dibrugarh in an intelligence-based operation carried out in the early hours of this morning. 

During the search, aeveral incriminating materials, including digital devices, were seized which are currently under examination. He was summoned to the local police establishment for further examination. 

The accused, during preliminary investigation, confessed to his involvement in planting four of the 11 Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) that were recovered by the state police during the I-Day celebrations. The IEDs had been planted as part of the military protest and I-Day boycott call by Paresh Baruah, SS C-in-C of ULFA(I), in a video, which had warned of dire consequences for anyone disobeying the instructions. Consequently, Jahnu Barua was arrested after following the due procedure.

Jahnu Baruah, who planted the four IEDs at Pan Bazar, Dispur, Gandhi Mandap and Satgaon in Guwahati, had been under surveillance and monitoring for the past several weeks. He was one of the several suspects identified by NIA, based on technical and human intelligence, as being involved in the collection and transportation of the IEDs that were planted to trigger large-scale explosions in Assam on the occasion of I-Day, causing loss to property and life and inciting terror in the state. 

NIA had taken over the investigation of the case from the state police on September 17 and found that the IEDs were planted at the behest of Aishang Asom alias Abhijit Gogoi and other top leaders of ULFA (I). 

Investigations in the case are underway and further details are awaited.