A suspected Ulfa-I linkman was injured in police firing in Assam while trying to escape on Sunday night, the fifth such case in the past 24 hours, signalling an intensified crackdown on members or linkmen of the outfit after it carried out three blasts in upper Assam between November 22 to December 14.

Without naming Ulfa-Independent, which is trying to establish a “sovereign socialist Assam”, a tough-talking state police chief GP Singh asserted violence from a banned outfit is unacceptable while referring to the blasts carried out by the separatist group.

Police said that the “unemployed” youth, Pranjal Das, in his mid-twenties, was picked up from Rangia and was shot in the leg while he was trying to flee from Salmara under Kamrup district on Sunday night. He was admitted to the Guwahati Medical College and Hospital and his condition was stated to be stable.

The police also said Das was a suspected Ulfa linkman and shared close ties with Asim Adhikari, a suspected member of the outfit who was arrested with two of his colleagues from the Maligaon area on December 19.

“Pranjal and Asim were very close and he acted on the latter’s advice,” the police official said.

The Salmara firing incident is the third to have taken place in the state since early Sunday morning. The other two incidents took place in Tinsukia and Sivasagar districts in Upper Assam.

In the wake of the three firing incidents, Assam DGP posted on X on Monday: “Our initial plan, after the first grenade blast was peace and conflict resolution through discussion.”

He added: “However, our peace initiative was taken as weakness and further violence was committed. We still believe that peace and conflict resolution is the best way ahead but initiation of violence from a banned organisation is unacceptable.”

After the firing in Sivasagar and Tinsukia, the Ulfa in a statement dubbed the firing as “fake encounters” by the police and that the injured “innocent youths” were not associated with the outfit.

On Sunday night, in another post, Singh said: “When the water is still, don’t throw a stone in it. When a stone is thrown in still water, waves are formed... Simple Physics once again - Let still water be still and calm, lest bigger waves hit you back.”