GUWAHATI, June 11 - Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal today said that some unscrupulous elements are trying to create disturbance in the society and appealed to all sections of the people not to fall into the trap of such elements. He said the government is trying its best to maintain peace and tranquillity in the society and asserted that all the culprits involved in the killing of two Guwahati youths in Karbi Anglong would be brought to book.
Talking to The Assam Tribune, Sonowal described the killing of two youths as �very tragic� and asserted that none of the criminals involved in the incident would be spared. He said instructions have been given to the Chief Secretary and Director General of Police for a thorough investigation into the incident. He pointed out that the Additional Director General of Police, Law and Order, Mukesh Agarwala is camping in Karbi Anglong to supervise the investigation and till this morning, as many as 19 people involved in the incident have been arrested. �I want to assure the people of Assam that the government will leave no stone unturned to ensure that all those involved in the heinous crime are punished as per the laws of the land,� he asserted.
Sonowal said that a �gang of criminals� was involved in the killing and no one should try to give communal or ethnic colour to the incident. �We are committed to punishing all the culprits but if someone tries to create ethnic divide because of the incident, it will only create disturbance in the society,� he said. While appealing everyone to maintain restraint and cooperate with the government so that peace and tranquillity is maintained in the society, he said that youths are the future of Assam and they must behave as responsible citizens to ensure allround development of the State. �No one should try to break the bond of unity among various sections of the people because of actions of a few criminals,� he said.
The Chief Minister said some unscrupulous elements have been trying to create tension in the society of late by using the social media. The police is trying to keep a watch on the social media and hoped that once the cyber dome project gets under way, it would be possible to ensure better monitoring of the social media. He said the Central government is also extending help to the State to implement the cyber dome project. He also said that police have been instructed to take strong action against rumour mongers.
Meanwhile, Special Director General of Police, Special Branch, Pallab Bhattacharyya said that several arrests have been made in different parts of the State since yesterday for posting inflammatory materials on the social media. He said that yesterday, one youth from Dibrugarh issued a social media post claiming that a 12-hour bandh was given by the AASU. The youth has been arrested by police. Similarly, one person was giving Facebook live stream from a bus stand at Nagaon instigating people to target buses going to Karbi Anglong and police immediately arrested the person. Several such arrests have been made in different parts of the State. He also appealed to the people to inform the police whenever they notice such inflammatory social media posts.
Bhattacharyya said it is not possible to block the social media without totally suspending the internet services. He pointed out that blocking internet services would bring immense hardship to the people as most people even get railway, airline tickets, etc., through the internet. A step like blocking the internet service can be taken as an extreme measure when the situation goes totally out of control, he said.
