The CBI has been asked by the Assam government to investigate the alleged derogatory comments made against the Tai Ahom community in Facebook by the editor-in-chief of a local private TV news channel.

In a note to the chief secretary, Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi directed him to ask the CBI to take up the cases filed by the police and investigate them independently.

On August 4, a case was lodged the case against News Live TV channel's editor-in-chief Atanu Bhuyan on the complaint by the All Assam Tai Ahom Students Union Sibsagar district committee general secretary Prasanta Borgohain.

Bhuyan's laptop and a CPU were seized and sent to the Forensic Science Laboratory in Guwahati.  On the other hand, Bhuyan registered a case with the cyber crime STF denying that he had made the remarks and that a fake account was created in his name in Facebook.

A notice was earlier served on the social internet networking site's security department in USA under CrPC sections through the chief judicial magistrate, Kamrup, for furnishing details pertaining to Bhuyan's alleged account.

The details sought included the date of creation and deactivation of the account and the IP address of the account to ascertain the actual place of creation and the computer from which it was accessed frequently, a police release had said.

On July 28 a bandh was observed in upper Assam in protest against the alleged derogatory remarks. The Tai Ahom community has demanded Bhuyan's arrest.