CBI team in Assam to investigate Chauldhowa firing incident in Behali Reserve Forest

A CBI team has arrived here to investigate into the Chauldhowa firing incident in Behali Reserve Forest near Assam-Arunachal Pradesh border in which 15 people were killed early this year.

An eight-member group of officials of Central Bureau of Investigation held a meeting with Sonitpur district Deputy Commissioner Lalit Gogoi and Superintendent of Police Sanjukta Parasar separately. CBI Superintendent Rajshekhara N, who led the team, told the reporters at the DC office that they were holding camp about 85 km from Tezpur at Biswanath Chariali, for probing the matter.

He said that it will take time to probe the entire matter as it is related to the inter-state border. The CBI team also asked a section of the local television media to provide their video footage of the incident for helping the investigations.

SP Sanjukta Parasar told PTI that police today handed over all the documents related to the incident and the CBI had begun work from Friday. On January 29 last a group of heavily armed gunmen came and fired on people in Chauldhowa area, about 135 km from Tezpur and 315 km from Guwahati, resulting in the killing of 15 people and serious injury to 12 others.

The Assam government had handed over the case to CBI for investigation on August last. After the incident the state government had decided to set up four Forest Protection Camps (FPC) in the bordering areas at Chauldhowa, Radhasu, Naharjan and Dikal, official sources added.