Assam eviction drive violence: Assam CM Sarma suspects Islamist outfit PFI’s role in violence
“Various evidence suggest that a day before the incident, PFI had visited the site in the name of carrying food to the evicted families. There is also evidence that a lecturer was also among them," Sarma said on Saturday.
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Saturday said that the Assam government has clear evidence of Popular Front of India’s (PFI) involvement in the clash that broke out during an eviction drive at Dholpur in Sipajhar on September 23.
“Various evidence suggest that a day before the incident, PFI had visited the site in the name of carrying food to the evicted families. There is also evidence that a lecturer was also among them," Sarma said on Saturday.
"Assam government has clear evidence that, in the past few months, a certain group of people collected Rs 28 lakh rupees from the poor people there saying they will convince the government against eviction. When they could not resist the eviction drive, they mobilised people and created havoc. We have names of six people who are involved," said Sarma, adding that he will not divulge more details as the judicial probe will ascertain all the facts.
The PFI, an extremist Islamic organisation in India that was formed as a successor to National Development Front (NDF) in 2006, is banned in many states of the country.
On September 23, three persons were killed and many were injured when an eviction drive in Sipajhar escalated to a clash between policemen and locals. A day after, the government announced a judicial probe into the incident under a retired Gauhati High Court judge whose name is yet to be declared.
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