A SLR rifle and a carbine were recovered from the charred remains of a house razed during the recent Karbi Anglong violence; a discovery that has stunned residents and security experts alike and raised urgent questions about how such lethal weapons entered what was largely seen as a land-rights protest. In video footage accessed by Northeast Scoop, it clearly shows a burnt SLR gun lying in the debris, with the wooden part badly scorched but still visible.
How did an SLR and a carbine end up in homes at the heart of clashes in West Karbi Anglong? Who brought these weapons into the area and were they intended “to kill people,” as many locals are now asking?
Speaking to Northeast Scoop, Leader of the Opposition Debabrata Saikia said that the recovery of such heavy weapons is a serious concern. He said a thorough investigation should be carried out by the government to find out how these arms and weapons ended up in the burnt houses and to determine who they belonged to. 
The Karbi Anglong unrest, which erupted on December 22–23, 2025, began as a simmering conflict over alleged encroachments on protected grazing lands: Village Grazing Reserves (VGR) and Professional Grazing Reserves (PGR) by non-tribal settlers. Tribal organisations had been staging a prolonged hunger strike demanding eviction of those they described as illegal settlers from these lands. When authorities shifted several hunger strikers for medical care, rumours of detention spread rapidly and erupted into mass protests.
Clashes quickly intensified in the Kheroni area, with protesters burning properties, damaging the ancestral home of an autonomous council leader, and confronting security forces. The violence left at least two civilians dead and dozens injured, including scores of security personnel. Authorities deployed additional forces, conducted flag marches, and imposed curfew-like prohibitions to stem the unrest.
Even, the ancestral residence of Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council (KAAC) Chief Executive Member Tuliram Ronghang at Dongkamokam in West Karbi Anglong was set on fire by an angry mob on December 22, 2025, as violent protests over grazing land disputes spiralled out of control. Protesters, reportedly enraged by rumours regarding the arrest of hunger-striking activists, marched to Ronghang’s old home early that day and torched the structure amid intense stone-pelting and chaos on the streets. The blaze gutted the building, leaving little more than scorched rubble, and forced authorities to immediately deploy additional police and paramilitary units to restore order.
Local residents and political figures alike are now demanding answers from the administration. If crude weapons like bows, arrows and homemade explosives were part of the unrest, the presence of formal military-grade arms in civilian structures suggests a dangerous escalation.
