Friday, September 9 2005 12:07 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Jorhat (Assam): A bid was made to blow up four Assamese newspaper houses in Upper Assam's Jorhat district last night (Sept 8, 2005) with pressure detonator sticks attached to press releases, a senior police official said today (Sept 9, 2005).

DIG (Eastern Range) Bhaskar Jyoti Mahanta told sources in Jorhat that three persons including president of Golaghat district unit of BJP delivered a press release each at the 'Khabar' and 'Dainik Janambhoomi' offices in Jorhat town around 9.30 pm last night.

While the three were drinking in a restaurant before delivering their press releases at the 'Asamiya Pratidin' and 'Amar Asom' newspaper offices the other two dailies noticed the detonators and informed police immediately

Mahanta said the police nabbed the three and recovered a bomb and a detonator from the vehicle along with the two undelivered press releases.

The three were identified as - Golaghat district BJP president Mrinal Saikia, who had also authored a book 'Assam towards Islamic edification', Rajiv Gogoi and Manab Saikia.

They claimed to belong to a new outfit called 'Fighters for preservation of Upper Assam' with an aim to save the area from infiltration of illegal Bangladeshis.

The DIG said the pressure detonators, which resemble flat computer chips, were triggered when pressed and has the potential to cause large-scale destruction.