SILCHAR: Assam has decided to request the National Investigation Agency (NIA) to join the investigation into multiple grenade attacks in three districts during the last month, director general of police (DGP) Gyanendra Pratap Singh said on Friday.

“A team of NIA is coming to Assam after getting our request. We have informed the other central agencies as well,” Singh said.

The United Liberation Front of Asom-Independent (Ulfa-I) has claimed responsibility for the three attacks in Tinsukia, Sivasagar and Jorhat districts between November 22 and December 13, saying these blasts were a warning to the state DGP and asking him to change what they considered, as his arrogant approach.

“We do not have any enmity with the Assam Police. However, we warn GP Singh not to stake claim over the Assam Police as his ancestral property,” the outfit said in a public statement on Sunday. It claimed that Singh’s actions had not only hurt sentiments of the state police personnel but also “the indigenous people of the state”.

Singh responded to the Ulfa-I’s message on Friday, saying that if Ulfa-I only had problems with him, they could target him rather than hurl grenades in public places. “My office is at Guwahati’s Ulubari and I stay at Kahilipara, I am there, they can come to me. I’m not afraid of them,” he said.

He said though the blasts didn’t hurt anyone, they could create fear among the public.

“With our limited police force, we are arresting criminals involved in scams and corruption. If we use this force to go after suspects triggering blasts, it’ll hurt the people of Assam because the criminals will get space to operate,” he said.

Singh countered the Ulfa-I’s narrative, saying that if they loved Assam, why attack the public? “In the name of loving Assam, they are striking terror amongst the mothers and sisters of this state,” he said.

The state police chief, who is active on social media, has been issuing multiple appeals to the Ulfa cadre to quit the militant group and to the state’s youth, not to join the group, particularly after ULFA-I executed four cadres in September this year on the ground that they were spying for the police.

According to Assam police, 11 ULFA-I cadre exited the group’s camp in Myanmar and 16 more were arrested. “They attacked Assam police five times this year, one of them died in an encounter while we managed to catch 16 cadres,” a senior police officer said.

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