Ex-Assam MLA held for possessing illegal weapons

Guwahati, Jan 8 The Assam Police arrested an ex-MLA, Hitesh Basumatary, and two others after recovering arms and ammunition from Basumatarys house in Kokrajhar district, the police said on Saturday.

The police recovered one AK series rifle, one M-16 rifle and 126 rounds of ammunition during a search operation launched after receiving a tip-off.

Basumatary (52) was earlier elected from the Chapaguri Assembly constituency on a Bodoland People's Front (BPF) ticket.

Basumatary was also an executive member of the Bodoland Territorial Council, which was later renamed as Bodoland Territorial Region (BTR).

The police suspect that he was associated with the Bodo Liberation Tigers (BLT), a banned extremist outfit.

Militancy in the BTR had tamed after the signing of a tripartite accord between the Centre, the Assam government and Bodo organisations, including all the factions of the banned National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB), in January 2020.

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