GUWAHATI: Just 48 hours after the case involving a death threat against Agriculture Minister Atul Bora on a social media platform was handed over to the Crime Investigation Department (CID), the agency has nabbed an individual from Sivsagar.
Identified as Nip Pratim Baruah, the 31-year-old has been detained from Bamun Moran Gaon village under the Gaurisagar Police Station in the district on the intervening night of November 16.
“The detention is based on circumstantial evidence,” wrote Assam Director General of Police (DGP) GP Singh, on a micro-blogging website.
The threat, posted on social media under the pseudonym “Pranash Shandilya”, claimed that an explosive device had been planted in the minister’s quarters and attributed the act to the banned militant group United Liberation Front of Asom-Independent (ULFA-I).
The incident unfolded on Tuesday when the threatening comment appeared on a Facebook post from a regional news portal. Acting swiftly, DGP Singh instructed the CID to launch a thorough investigation and take legal action against the individual responsible.
After receiving a clear directive, the CID probed the matter and successfully traced the source of the threat to the social media handle “Pranash Shandilya”. The comment not only conveyed a danger to Minister Bora but also implicated the proscribed militant group ULFA-I in the alleged plot.
Earlier, DGP Singh, while highlighting the severity of the crime in a social media post, had said, “No such threat would be acceptable against elected representatives as it threatens the democratic polity.”
Minister Bora, the targeted cabinet minister, holds crucial portfolios in the state government, including agriculture, animal husbandry and veterinary, implementation of Assam Accord, border protection, and overall development.
As the chief of the regional political party Asom Gana Parishad (AGP), Bora is a key ally of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Assam.
