Massive protest rallies held in several districts of Arunachal Pradesh to protest against the killing of former MLA

Guwahati: Massive protest rallies have been held on Friday in several districts of Arunachal Pradesh including the insurgency affected districts of Tirap, Changlang and Longding to protest against the brutal killing of former MLA Yumsem Matey.

Suspected militants on December 16 near Raho village under Lazu police station in Tirap district killed Matey.

Arunachal Pradesh government has approved State Police's proposal to transfer investigations to National Investigation Agency of the killing of Matey.


The rallies will be brought out under the joint initiative of the Tirap Changlang Longding People's Forum (TCLPF) and various other Community Based Organization, Women's Groups, Students Union, trade bodies, GB Federation.

Suspected militant shot dead a former Arunachal Pradesh MLA in a village in Tirap district where he had gone on some personal work last Saturday.

Yumsen Matey, a former Congress legislator, along with three of his followers had gone to the village for some personal work when someone took him towards a jungle on some pretext and fired at him killing him on the spot.

The state government on Thursday said it has decided to hand over the case “in order to bring the culprits involved in this gruesome murder to justice,”.

Accordingly, the home department of the state government has forwarded the former MLA Yumsen Matey killing case to the ministry of home affairs, Government of India, vide letter No HOME-12037 (18)/l/2023, dated 21/12/2023, for appropriate direction to the NIA in the matter,” the release said.

The decision was taken by the government following the proposal of the state police to transfer the case to the NIA for detailed and comprehensive investigation, the release added.

As per initial report, the incident took place at around 3 pm, when Matey and his workers were intercepted by a man when they were on the way to Raho. The man reportedly sought a private meeting with him, and they walked towards a hill for the meeting.

The workers who were waiting for Matey heard a gunshot after some time. The man reportedly came back and threatened the workers against telling anyone about the incident. Later, the scared workers reported the matter to the police.

Three districts of Arunachal Pradesh Tirap, Changlang and Longding are besieged by insurgency problems. The area is under the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA).

In recent times the area is witnessing spat in extortion and abduction cases. Tirap, Longding and Changlang share a porous border with Myanmar. These areas have not only been transit routes but used as transit for several banned militant groups of Assam and Nagaland.

In 2019 National Peoples party (NPP) MLA, Tirong Aboh from Khonsa West constituency along with 10 others were killed by suspected militants in Arunachal Pradesh.