Top ULFA(I) Commander Rupam Asom Arrested in Assam-Arunachal Border Operation

In a counter-insurgency operation, Assam Police, in a joint operation with the Assam Rifles and the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), arrested Rupam Asom, the ‘operational commander’ of the banned insurgent utfit United Liberation Front of Asom–Independent (ULFA-I), from a forested area near the Assam-Arunachal Pradesh border on May 24.

According to senior police officials, Rupam Asom had been orchestrating an extortion network across eastern Assam and was among the most wanted insurgents in the region. He had been named in the National Investigation Agency (NIA) charge sheet for his alleged role in the 2018 killing of Bhaskar Kalita, the Officer-in-Charge of Bordumsa Police Station, who was shot dead during an encounter with ULFA(I) militants.

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Authorities believe Rupam and his team had been operating from hideouts along the inter-state border, using the dense forest terrain as cover while running extortion operations targeting businesses and individuals in Upper Assam.

Following his arrest, security forces have intensified search operations in the border areas to locate and apprehend other members of the militant group believed to be in hiding.

The arrest comes amid a renewed crackdown on ULFA(I), a secessionist group that has long waged an armed struggle for an independent Assam. Though the faction led by Paresh Baruah remains outside the framework of ongoing peace talks, security agencies have been mounting sustained pressure on the outfit in recent months.