Karimganj Encounter: Nurul Islam shot dead; "He snatched service gun and opened fire, Police retaliated," SP

Yesterday, Karimganj Police in association with the BSF confiscated four pistols and a pen gun from 28-year-old Nurul Islam and 23-year-old Lling Khiamn. They were aboard Silchar – Guwahati train and were arrested at Badarpur. The arms and ammunition were seized and both the miscreants were locked up for interrogation.

According to the superintendent of Police, Karimganj, Padmanabh Baruah, late at night, Nurul Islam, who is a resident of the Patherkandi area confessed that there are more arms in his possession that have been kept at a hideout. “He led a team of Police officials to the spot under Badarpur Police Station and there he pushed one of the constables and snatched his gun. Moments later, he started firing and in retaliation, the police had to open fire,” informed Padmanabh Baruah, SP Karimhganj.

Nurul Islam was immediately rushed to the Karimganj Civil Hospital where the treating doctors declared him dead. His dead body was then sent for postmortem. When asked if any Police officials incurred injuries as Nurul Islam opened fire, Baruah responded, “One Police official incurred injuries as he slipped off. But no one has incurred any bullet injury.”

This is the second encounter in the Karimganj district in the last month. On July 24, Patherkandi Police opened fire at Drug Peddler Kausar Ahmed who according to SP Baruah tried to overpower the police. Ahmed was admitted to the hospital and he has been discharged after recovery.

Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma praised Karimganj Police and BSF for their joint operation executed yesterday. Explaining about the operation executed yesterday, Deputy Superintendent of Police, Karimganj D Sharma said, “Based on a secret intel, the Badarpur police led by OC Anup Kalita in a joint operation with the BSF forces, searched the Silchar-Guwahati train that had arrived today at the Badarpur Junction.”

He added, “After searching the bag of the culprits, 5 pistols were recovered, of which 4 are 7.65 mm pistols and the other one is a pen pistol. Both the culprits were immediately arrested and brought over to the Badarpur police station for interrogation, and the guns were seized. No bullets or ammunition were found with the pistols, and all the guns were empty at the time of seizure.”

The apprehended duo who were caught smuggling the guns were Nurul Islam, from the Baraigram area of the Karimganj district, and H Liang Khiyamon from Tuensang district, Nagaland. According to DSP D Sharma, the duo arrived from Dimapur, Nagaland to Lumding boarding the Moriani Express train. Then they boarded the Silchar-Guwahati train from Lumding to arrive at Badarpur where they were caught by the police.

As it turns out, Nurul Islam is no more.