SHILLONG: With tears and prayers, the Rilbong residents on Friday paid tributes to the departed souls of headmaster of Rilbong LP school, Anirudha Dutta (49) and businessman Rahul Dey Purkayasta (48) who died in a freak road accident at Rilbong on Thursday night.
Bibhuti Chakraborty (50), the general secretary of Rilbong Sports and Cultural Club, who was injured in the accident, is undergoing treatment at NEIGRIHMS.
The shops in Rilbong downed the shutters throughout the day as the residents who gathered at the Rilbong ground and at the residences of late Dutta and Purkayasta waited for the arrival of their bodies on Friday morning.
After the bodies were brought in the afternoon, they were placed first at the Rilbong LP School premises where all the teachers and several students paid their last respects. A holiday was declared on Friday for the school due to the demise of the Headmaster.
Later, the bodies were taken to the respective residences where relatives offered prayers for the departed souls.
Following this, the bodies were brought to Rilbong Community Hall where young and old paid floral tributes and prayed for the eternal rest of the two Rilbong residents whose bodies were subsequently cremated at Barapathar on Friday evening.
Driver arrested
It was due to the alleged drunken driving of the driver of the vehicle that the road mishap took place on Thursday night. Another occupant of the vehicle was also in an inebriated condition.
After the driver lost control of the speedy vehicle, it went down near the LP school, hit the unsuspecting victims and stopped only after uprooting the wall of the Assam type house on the right side of the school.
After the driver, Bikash Ghosh (48) from Rilbong and the occupant of the vehicle, Uttam Brahmacharya (39) from Naspatigiri, Jhalupara were taken for medical examination, the driver was arrested by police under section 279/337/338/427/304(A) IPC.
While section 279 is for rash driving, 337 is for causing hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others with punishment for six months, 338 is for causing hurt by act endangering life or personal safety, punishment for which is two years imprisonment, 427 for mischief causing damage, and 304 (A) is for causing death by negligence not amounting to murder, punishment for which is two years imprisonment.