Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal has ordered an inquiry after death of a police officer during an encounter with the anti-talk faction of Ulfa militants in Assam recently has raised doubts about the quality of bullet proof vests used by Assam police.
“We are looking into the allegations of poor quality bullet proof vests used by Assam police. I have already asked Additional Chief Secretary Kumar Sanjay Krishna to investigate the matter,” Sonowal said today on the sidelines of a programme.
It may be mentioned here that the allegation about quality of the bullet proof vests poured in after Officer in charge of Bordumsa police station in Tinsukia district , Bhaskar Kalita fell to the bullets of anti-talk faction of Ulfa militants on Friday evening. Kalita was wearing the bullet proof vests but was hit on his chest and abdomen leading to his death.
The Chief Minister also asked the police to intensify the operations against the militants.
“We have to check the records and find out the truths. It is learnt that the lot of bullet proof vests used by Kalita was procured during 2011-2013.
The Chief Minister had already ordered a probe into the whole issue and things will be cleared once the inquiry report is submitted,” said Saikia adding that the police have already intensified operations along the Assam-Arunachal Pradesh border following the incident.
Meanwhile, the Ulfa faction had expressed their regrets for killing the young officer and said that Kalita was killed when the Ulfa boys fired in self defence.
“Our members did not want to kill Kalita, who is a son of the soil. They only fired in self defence when attacked by the police and other security forces. We are deeply hurt by his death,” the Ulfa faction’s commander-in-Chief told a faction if media over phone after the incident.