Jawans arrested in arms loot case

Nagaon, Dec. 23 : Seven jawans of 9 Assam Police Battalion (APBn) were arrested in connection with the arms lifting case from Bokajan police station barracks on Monday.

They were produced in Diphu court this morning and remanded in judicial custody.

Karbi Anglong police said investigations had begun yesterday under the supervision of superintendent of police Anurag Agarwal.

The police, however, are still clueless about the missing arms.

“We suspect the involvement of criminals and militants in the case. However, the battalion members may have helped bring arms from the barracks. It is very unfortunate and shameful to say that they are not above suspicion,” said a high-level source in Karbi Anglong police.

The 9 APBn commandant, Mihir Goswami, rushed to Bokajan yesterday from the battalion headquarters in Borhampur after the incident came to light.

“The incident is under investigation by the district police. We hope their investigation will reveal the true picture,” Goswami said.

“We have 16 personnel in our battalion, of whom one died on Sunday. The remaining 15 comprise one sub inspector, two lance naiks, two havildars and 10 constables. Of them, two were on leave, one had gone to Silchar with the body of the dead jawan, one had gone to the headquarters, three were on patrol duty and one was in the police station. The remaining seven were sleeping inside the barracks. Today, all seven were arrested on suspicion of their involvement in the arms lifting case,” Goswami said.

All the 15 jawans were deployed in Bokajan 10 days back from their battalion headquarters.

Arms and ammunition lifted from the police station included one SLR with seven magazines and 100 rounds of ammunition, two rifles with two magazines and 140 rounds of ammunition, a bayonet and two mobile handsets.

The arms were lifted from the battalion barracks at night when the arrested jawans were apparently sleeping. The incident came to light when jawans on duty returned to the barracks the next morning.

This is the first such incident of arms lifting from a police station campus in Karbi Anglong district.