"PFI Role In Assam Police Firing Incident During Eviction": Himanta Biswa Sarma

Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said a college lecturer was among those who visited the area a day before the violence.

The extremist Islamist group Popular Front of India (PFI) was involved in last week's violence during an eviction drive in Assam's Darrang district, visuals of which have sparked a nationwide outrage, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said today. Denying that there was a communal angle to the incident, he claimed the images from the police firing that have been broadcast till now do not give out the full picture.

A fierce face-off turned into a clash with sticks between the police and the locals during an anti-encroachment drive in Darrang last Thursday. Nine policemen and two civilians are said to be injured in the clash, during which the policemen even opened fire.

One video from the site showed a man with a stick charging towards the policemen-in-riot-gear armed with sticks and guns. He is seen being overpowered, shot, and then brutally thrashed. The blows don't stop even as he lies motionless on the ground.

"The state government has clear evidence that a certain group of people collected Rs 28 lakh in the past few months from the poor people there saying they will convince the government against eviction. We have those names. When they could not resist the eviction drive, they mobilised the people and created havoc...we have name of six people who were involved," Chief Minister Sarma told media persons today.