Guwahati blast toll up to 4

With the death today of Madhu Debnath, an auto-rickshaw driver, the toll in the blast outside Guwahati railway station on Thursday has risen to four.

With the death today of Madhu Debnath, an auto-rickshaw driver, the toll in the blast outside Guwahati railway station on Thursday has risen to four. Debnath breathed his last at the GMC Hospital here.

Meanwhile, police picked up as many as 30 people from different parts of the city in connection with Thursday8217;s blast. City SSP Nitul Gogoi said the police had found some important leads on the basis of which they were picked up.

Police suspect the culprit to be Putul Das alias Robin Barua, a member of the ULFA8217;s 709 battalion that covers the lower Assam region including Guwahati. An artist would soon arrive from Kolkata to prepare a sketch on the basis of the description provided by Lakshmi Yadav, whose rickshaw they had hired that day. Yadav, who is now undergoing treatment, told police that two youths had hired his rickshaw from Uzanbazar to the railway station that day. While the two put several bags on the rickshaw, only one actually boarded it.

The youth, whose face Yadav remembers, asked him to wait near an unused pre-paid autorickshaw counter outside the station. He then walked into the railway station leaving behind one of the several bags on his rickshaw. As the youth did not return even after 20 minutes, Yadav decided to inform police about the abandoned bag. By then, however, the bag exploded. Meanwhile, auto-rickshaws remained off the roads today to observe grief over the death.

5 hurt as police open fire in Upper Assam town

GUWAHATI: At least five persons were injured as police resorted to firing after an unruly mob tried to attack the police station at Lekhapani in Tinsukia district of Upper Assam on Saturday afternoon over a purported government move to create a tribal autonomous area. A crowd of over 1,000 persons, which shouted slogans opposing any move to create a tribal autonomous area in the Margherita sub-division after reports of such an announcement by the chief minister, attacked and damaged police vehicles. They, later, pelted the Lekhapani police station with stones and threatened to set it ablaze. The police first shelled tear gas and then resorted to lathi-charge before opening fire to disperse the mob. 8212;ENS