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| The body of Badan Hasda at the BPPF office in Kokrajhar on Wednesday. Picture by Eastern Projections |
Kokrajhar, May 2: Suspected cadre of the Adivasi Cobra Militant of Assam shot dead the former executive member of interim Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) and organising secretary of the Bodoland Peoples’ Progressive Front, Badan Hasda, last evening.
A 15-member strong group of militants intercepted the Bolero in which the Adivasi leader was travelling along with his wife Sona, son Uttam and six others, in the Islampur-Janagaon area.
“A hail of bullets fired by the militants punctured one of the tyres. They first slashed my father’s knee with an axe, dragged him out, hit him again on the head and then shot him from close range,” said Uttam. Hasda died where he fell. Sona was also assaulted as she tried to resist.
The family was returning home at Patgaon after attending a wedding ceremony in Janagaon.
Four persons have been picked up. “Though the Cobra militants are suspected to be behind the killings, we are looking into every possible angle,” Kokrajhar SP Hiren Nath said.
According to official sources and police, Hasda was killed for protesting extortion drives of the Cobra militants in the Gossiagaon area violating the ceasefire. He also demanded confinement of the militants in the designated camps.
BTC chief Hagrama Mohilary blamed the Cobra outfit for the killing. The All-India Adivasi Youth Students’ Federation has called a 12-hour bandh on Friday.
Hasda’s body was brought to Kokrajhar today for post-mortem.
In a separate incident on Sunday night, police raided a gun-manufacturing unit at Salbari and arrested eight militants of the Assam Strong Lion Force. Ammunition and huge cache of arms were seized.