Imphal: The Assam Rifles, which is yet to publicly react to the allegation made by a serving naib subedar Ramesh Chand Sharma that a section of officials procures illegal arms to stage encounters and surrender to secure "promotion", has ordered an inquiry, a senior official said on Thursday afternoon.

Assam Rifles public relations officer in-charge here Anup Roy, when asked for a reaction to the allegation made by Sharma, who was posted as part 30 Assam Rifles in Manipur in 2013, said, "The director-general of Assam Rifles (DGAR) will issue a clarification by Friday. The DGAR has already set up an inquiry as it is the solely concerned with the issue because the unit (30 AR) is not under inspector-general of Assam Rifles (IGAR) South at present. The 30 AR was in IGAR South in 2013 but after that everything changed. It is now under IGAR East."

IGAR South covers Manipur.

Sharma, who was posted at 30 Assam Rifles stationed at B company, Khurkhul Spinning Mills, in 2013 accused many senior officers of the unit secretly procuring unauthorised arms to stage encounters and surrender dramas in the state.

He alleged that there were many instances where the high-ranking officers sent out jawans to "do dirty work for promotions and to fill their pockets".

Sharma, who is now posted in Nagaland, made the allegation in Imphal on Wednesday with "documents to prove" his claim.

The CBI, following a Supreme Court directive in March, is probing several fake encounter cases in Manipur.