CBI to probe Bodo leader murder; union demands prompt arrests

The Centre has handed over the case of the killing of All Bodo Minority Students Union (ABMSU) president Lafikul Islam to the CBI, even as the union staged protests in Kokrajhar today demanding immediate arrest of the killers.
The move to hand over the case to CBI followed a request from the Assam government to the Centre. A notification to this regard was issued by the Centre yesterday, a state government release said.
"Though a CBI investigation is most welcome, the probe should have begun earlier," ABMSU general secretary Shahkamal Khandakar told PTI.
Supporters of the union took out protest rallies in Kokrajhar today carrying placards and demanding the arrest of Lafikul Islam's killers, Khandakar said.

The Government Railway Police and the police said ABMSU supporters attempted to put up rail blockades at Kokrajhar and Salakati but they were foiled.
"Since August, we have been demanding that a CBI inquiry be done and had met Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal several times. He assured us of a CBI probe," Khandakar said.

However, the chief minister had said at the time that as the process could take some time, a special investigation team (SIT), constituted by the state government, would carry forward the probe in the interim, Khandakar added.
The ABMSU general secretary said that they had not received any official communication about the CBI inquiry from the state government.

Lafikul Islam was killed by unidentified miscreants at Titaguri market in Kokrajhar district on August 1 this year.
The Assam government had constituted a SIT headed by Inspector General of Police Anurag Tankha to inquire into the murder, and had provided ex-gratia relief of Rs 5 lakh to the next of kin of the slain ABMSU leader.