Tinsukia, the eastern-most district of Assam, has suddenly drawn the attention of the security agencies across the globe after the town kept international satellites got busy in December last month.
According to a media report, while mapping the forest cover in the Asia-Africa region in the first week of December, one of the American satellites sent an image of a section of forest near the Tinsukia railway station.
Ready for a challenge? Click here to take our quiz and show off your knowledge!
The image was interpreted as a camouflaged mobile ICBM (intercontinental ballistic missile) rake.
An ICBM is a guided ballistic missile with a minimum range of 5,500 km.
Most modern designs support multiple independently targetable reentry vehicles (MIRVs), allowing a single missile to carry several warheads, each of which can strike a different target.
Ready for a challenge? Click here to take our quiz and show off your knowledge!
The countries that have operational ICBMs are – the United States, China, Russia, India, North Korea, and Iran.
But the question has been raised whether India actually kept such a rake hidden in the forest near Tinsukia railway station.
After the American satellite capturing the picture, Russia and China also had their ante-up which puzzled the Indian authorities and space agencies about the unusual activity of foreign satellites over Tinsukia, said the report.
It has also been reported that following excessive activities of foreign satellites, Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA), National Investigation Agency (NIA), defence ministry and the Cabinet Committee on Security also got involved in it.
The report claims, an inquiry revealed that there was actually a rake hidden in the forested area near the Tinsukia railway station.
The report said the railway inquiry revealed that in 1976 a rake was brought to Tinsukia railway station.
It was placed a few metres away from the railway station.
But on the day the rake was brought to Tinsukia, heavy rainfall flooded the area.
The floodwaters even submerged the railway station.
It has been reported that the area, where the rake was placed, was covered in vegetation and the people, who had knowledge about the rake, were evicted and sent out of the town.
The matter was never discussed again until an American satellite captured an image of it last month.
The story is yet to be verified by officials, the report said.
Northeast Now could not contact the railway officials for their comments.
However, reacting to the story after its first publication, the Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) on its Twitter handle said: “There is no information available with us to confirm this story. We don’t have any idea about the Railway enquiry mentioned in the story.”