Guwahati: Eleven persons including a widely popular and upcoming singer of Assam Suman Mahanta and nine members of his music troupe were killed in road mishap on the national highway at Dhupdhara in Goalpara district of western Assam in the wee hours on Wednesday.
The singer and his team of musicians were travelling in a Tata Winger (AS 01 CC 8435) to Guwahati from Matia in Goalpara where they had performed on Tuesday night, when their vehicle was hit head-on by a speeding truck.
Besides the musicians the driver of the winger was also killed in the mishap. Nine of the deceased were killed on the spot while two others died in the hospital. The 12th inmate of the winger, Gautom Sharma, was seriously injured in the mishap and shifted to Guwahati Medical College Hospital (GMCH).
Popular young singer Suman Mahanta hails from Tezpur, the cultural capital of Assam. His untimely and tragic death has cast spell of gloom in the state. One of the prominent singers of Assam Mousumi Saharia said that tragic death of Suman had created a big void in the cultural landscape of Assam which would be difficult to be filled up.
The deceased were identified as Suman Mahanta, Nripen Sharma, Bijoy Rai, Ramen Rai, Raju Bora, Debu Das, Dipak Rabha, Jagadish Boro, Mukul, Pranjal Haloi and driver Rajib Kalita.
Police in the meantime arrested the driver of the truck (BR 01 GB 0744) involved in the mishap and admitted him to hospital.
