Border violence: Assam, Meghalaya govts to seek CBI probe

Guwahati: The state governments of Assam and Meghalaya have decided to seek a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the 2022 Mukroh violence along the contentious interstate line, killing six people.

Following negotiations to settle the interstate border dispute, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and his Meghalayan counterpart Conrad Sangma told the reporters that both states had decided to close their respective judicial commissions looking into the Mukroh incident.

Sarma said, "We have decided to dissolve our respective judicial commissions looking into the Mukroh tragedy as a confidence-boosting step. As a substitute, both state governments would now request that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) look into the situation".

He stated that the central agency will be asked to record the complaint in a neutral area, like Delhi, Kolkata, or any other location, rather than in either Guwahati or Shillong.

"As neither side has been able to make much headway because the witnesses of either state have not travelled to the other side to testify before the commission of that state, it has been decided to dissolve the separate judicial commissions”.

"We demand a thorough, unbiased investigation. Therefore, we chose to refer it to a separate organisation, namely the CBI," Meghalayan Chief Minister said.

On November 22 last year, six persons were killed in gunfire in Mukroh along a contentious portion of the Assam-Meghalaya interstate boundary, including five inhabitants of Meghalaya and a forest guard from Assam.

With inputs from IANS