A 40-year-old man suspected of being involved in the October 23 rail track blast in Assam’s Kokrajhar district and having alleged Maoist links was killed in an early morning encounter with police on Saturday.

The deceased, identified as Ipil Murmu alias Rohit Murmu, was reportedly linked to multiple subversive activities in Assam and Jharkhand. Police said Murmu, who hailed from Kokrajhar, had several criminal cases registered against him in Jharkhand, where he was wanted in connection with a similar train-track explosion that took place in October 2024.

Kokrajhar superintendent of police P. Singh said a search operation was launched early Saturday after police received intelligence on Friday night about the presence of a 10-member armed group in Nadangiri Hills, around 10km from Kokrajhar. “During the operation, our team came under fire around 6 am, prompting retaliatory firing. After the exchange of fire, we found one person injured at the site. He was taken to hospital but declared brought dead,” Singh said.

Doctors reported at least six bullet wounds on Murmu’s body. Police recovered a pistol, two grenades, a blanket and identity documents — including an Aadhaar card in the name of Rohit Murmu of Jharkhand and a voter ID bearing the name Ipil Murmu. His body has been sent for post-mortem examination in Kokrajhar.

Police sources said Murmu was once associated with the National Santhal Liberation Army (NSLA) and had fled Assam for Jharkhand around 2014 after several members of the group surrendered. “He had been active in Jharkhand for nearly a decade and was allegedly involved in a series of blasts and kidnapping cases since 2015,” Singh said.

Thursday’s blast on the railway track between Kokrajhar and Salakati in lower Assam had damaged about 90cm of track, disrupting train services for nearly five hours. The incident came just hours before chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma posted on X, stating: “A suspected Maoist with links to Jharkhand attempted to derail a train in Assam by detonating railway tracks near Kokrajhar. This attempt has not succeeded and police forces of both our states have launched a joint manhunt to nab the suspect.”

The Kokrajhar SP said the modus operandi in the two explosions — one in Jharkhand and the other in Assam — appeared identical. “A few months ago, a Jharkhand police team had visited us looking for this man. They had informed us that Murmu and the NSLA had claimed responsibility for the October 2024 train-track blast in Sahebganj,” he said.

Authorities said Murmu’s death is a significant breakthrough, but security forces have intensified combing operations in the Nadangiri Hills to trace other members of the armed group, who are believed to have fled deeper into the forest after the encounter.

Kokrajhar, once a hotbed of insurgency in the Bodoland Territorial Region, has largely remained peaceful in recent years. However, the blast and the discovery of armed groups in the area have sparked fresh security concerns.