Less Than CivilIn Their Civvies

The army’s version, however, is that the team, headed by Maj R.A.S. Tabah of 10 Assam Regiment, was misled by a person of "doubtful integrity" into the village where militants were about to target a schoolmaster as part of their extortion drive. According to the army, the villagers mistook the army team in mufti for militants, overpowered them, killing the major and the jawan.

But no one, not even the state government, buys this. Several questions—why didn’t the army inform the local police station in advance about the raid, why weren’t they in uniform and without their identity cards—are being raised. State health minister Bhumidhar Burman, who visited the village a day after the incident, echoed the sentiment across the state when he said: "Some armymen may be using surrendered militants or persons of dubious integrity to extort money from common citizens."