A man was reportedly taken into custody on Tuesday at the venue of the swearing-in ceremony of the new Assam government after a few rounds of live bullets were found on him.
Live bullets were recovered during the security screening at the entrance of the Veterinary College Field in Khanapara, where Himanta Biswa Sharma took oath as Assam chief minister for the second consecutive term.
According to the police, the man was taken into custody for questioning and was being taken to the Basistha police station, news agency PTI reported. However, no arms were recovered from him.
“An investigation is underway to determine the circumstances surrounding the recovery and whether any security threat was involved,” a police official was quoted as saying.
57-year-old Himanta was administered the oath of office and secrecy by Governor Lakshman Prasad Acharya at a ceremony held at Guwahati’s Khanapara Veterinary Ground.
The incident took place a few minutes before the Governor was set to administer Himanta’s oath, along with several new council members present.
Several dignitaries were present at the ceremony, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Shipping Minister Sarbananda Sonowal and Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari. Over 40 NDA CMs and Deputy CMs were also present at the event.
Along with Himanta, four MLAs, including BJP’s Rameswar Teli and Ajanta Neog, AGP’s Atul Bora and Charan Boro of BPF, also took oath as ministers.
The ceremony comes after NDA won a record 102 seats of the 126-member assembly, including 82 from the BJP. The BJP allies, the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) and the Bodoland Peoples’ Front (BPF), bagged 10 seats each.