Nagaland violence: Situation tense but under control, says Home Minister Amit Shah

Speaking in the Lok Sabha on Monday on the Nagaland violence, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said that the situation is tense but under control. He added that an FIR has been registered in the matter and the probe has been handed over to the State Crime Police Station. An SIT has been formed and it has been directed to complete the probe within a month.

Providing more details about the incident, the home minister said that the Army had received information about the movement of extremists in the area and an ambush was laid. However, it was later found to be a case of mistaken identity.

"Army had received info on the movement of extremists in Oting, Mon. On that basis, 21 commandos laid an ambush in the suspected area. A vehicle reached there, it was signalled to stop but it tried to flee. On suspicion of the vehicle carrying extremists, it was fired upon. 6 out of the 8 people in the vehicle died. It was later found to be a case of mistaken identity. 2 others who were injured were taken to the nearest health centre by Army," the home minister said.

"After receiving news of this, local villagers surrounded the Army unit, set 2 vehicles on fire & attacked them. As a result, one jawan of the security forces died; many other jawans were injured. Security forces had to resort to firing for self-defence & to disperse the crowd. This caused the death of 7 more civilians, some others injured. Local admin-Police tried to bring the situation to normalcy," Shah added.

Notably, the Indian Army is in action regarding the incident in Nagaland. Taking cognizance of the violence in Nagaland, the Army has constituted a Court of Inquiry. The investigation of this case will be done by an officer of the rank of Major General. 

On the night of December 4, 13 civilians were killed in the firing in Nagaland. The army had received the news of the presence of terrorists on the spot. When the army personnel asked to stop the vehicle, the villagers did not stop.

After the firing incident in Nagaland, mobile internet services were stopped on Sunday in view of security and preventing the spread of fake news spreads. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah have expressed grief over this incident.