The Assam Police on Friday killed Jackson Ronghang, a senior leader of militant outfit Karbi Democratic Liberation Front in an alleged shootout in the state’s Karbi Anglong district on Friday. Police have claimed that Ronghang was involved in a kidnapping case.

On December 10, three workers were allegedly kidnapped from a construction site in Rongmonwe block of Karbi Anglong. One of them was rescued later, while the others are yet to be traced, reported PTI.

Karbi Anglong Superintendent of Police Pushpraj Singh said Ronghong was named in the kidnapping case and was involved in extortion activities as well.

“Jackson, in his 30s, was a former Karbi People’s Liberation Tiger (KPLT) member and later he had flouted some group called KDLF,” Singh told Scroll.in. “The [kidnapped] worker was recovered on Wednesday. He [Ronghang] was the mastermind and executor of the kidnapping.”

Singh said that police had launched a search operation and cordoned off an area near a village under Rongmonwe police station after getting information that Ronghang was staying there.

“Meanwhile, we got another information that one of the cadres is in his house,” Singh said. “So police went to search his house, but he fled from the house as soon as police approached.”

The district police chief claimed that the police had a shootout with Ronghong.

“He fired at the police and [the] policemen retaliated after which he [Ronghong] was hit by bullets,” he claimed. “He was shifted to a local hospital but declared brought dead by the doctor.”

On December 12, the Assam Police had said that the security forces killed a gangster who had allegedly abducted a man. The deceased person was not identified then.

Several instances of shootouts involving the state police have taken place in Assam in the last few months. Since May, soon after Bharatiya Janata Party leader Himanta Biswa Sarma took over as chief minister of Assam, at least 31 men have been killed while in custody or in alleged shootouts with the police.

The police have claimed that on many occasions they had to open fire in retaliation.

Chief Minister Sarma has said that police have “full operational liberty” to fight against criminals within the bounds of the law.

The alleged shootout of Ronghong came on a day when National Human Rights Commission chief Arun Mishra said that there should be no room for fake encounters or extrajudicial killings by police and security forces, according to Hindustan Times.

“There is no room for fake encounters in a civilised society,” Mishra told reporters in Guwahati. “They are barbaric. There is no room for instant justice in this country and law has to take its own course.”

Mishra is in Guwahati as the National Human Rights Commission is conducting public hearing on allegations of human rights violations in five northeastern states. The NHRC had said that it take up a total of 40 cases from Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Sikkim and Nagaland during the public hearing over two days.