Loud sound triggers panic in Guwahati during Republic Day celebrations

The sound was heard at the truck parking near the Brahmaputra vegetable market in the Beharbari area

Guwahati: A loud sound was heard in Guwahati on Sunday amid Republic Day celebrations, triggering panic among the people. Police said the sound was heard at the truck parking near the Brahmaputra vegetable market in the Beharbari area.

“The local police are examining it,” a senior official from Assam Police Headquarters said. An employee of Brahmaputra Bazar said, “It was around 7.45 am. After we hoisted the national flag inside our compound, we heard the sound. We came running out. There was no injury or damage to any property.”

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Locals claimed that a similar sound was heard in Rehabari, but police said nothing of that sort happened there and it was a rumour. Meanwhile, an unattended bag near the Inter-State Bus Terminal (ISBT) at Betkuchi triggered panic.

Police said the entire area was sanitised and a thorough search was carried out by an anti-sabotage team. “We did not find anything inside it other than clothes and some ID cards. Probably someone mistakenly left it. We will return the bag after proper verification of the owner,” a police officer said.

The banned ULFA (I) purportedly sent an e-mail to the press later in the day, claiming responsibility for “blasts” at two places in Guwahati. It said that since Guwahati is the lifeblood of Assam, a message has been sent to the people without any harm so that they refrain from participating in the Independence Day and Republic Day programmes in the coming days. “IED blasts were carried out at many places, including Lalmati and Rehabari,” it added.

Guwahati has been under a thick blanket of security cover for the last several days in view of the boycott call by ULFA(I) against Republic Day celebrations. The elaborate arrangements assumed significance due to the fact that the entire security apparatus was left red-faced after ULFA(I) claimed to have planted bombs in 24 locations across Assam to trigger serial blasts on Independence Day last year. Police had later unearthed “bomb-like substances” from at least 10 places, including four in Guwahati.