GUWAHATI: In yet another shocking incident, a man died while three others sustained grievous injuries when a group of villagers allegedly assaulted them after suspecting them to be cattle thieves at Diplunga Tea Estate under Sootea police station in central Assam’s Biswanath district in the early hours of Wednesday.
Biswanath superintendant of police, D.K. Choudhury informed The Shillong Times on Thursday that Deben Rajbongshi, in his mid-thirties, succumbed to his injuries at Biswanath Civil Hospital.
“We were informed by the village defence party (VDP) members about the incident which took place at line number 15 of the tea estate at 4.20am on Wednesday. Upon arrival, the police team led by officer in-charge, Sootea, found the four persons lying in an injured state on the spot. An auto van and two cattle were seized from the spot. Thereafter, the injured were rushed to the civil hospital where one died,” Choudhury said.
The other three, Phulchand Sahu, Bijoy Nayak and Pulen Rajbongshi, who sustained multiple injuries are currently undergoing treatment at a private nursing home.
One of the injured told a television channel that they were on their way to buy livestock (pigs) when a group of about 25 to 30 persons stopped attacked them with machetes, iron rods and sticks without provocation.
Police said the four persons belong to Gereki about 10km away from the spot.
Diplunga Tea Estate is a unit of Dekorai Tea Estate and located about 230km northeast of Guwahati.
“A suo motu case has been lodged against the attackers while a theft case has been filed by the owner of the cattle at the Sootea police station. Further investigation is on and no one has been arrested so far,” the SP said.
Only about a couple of months back, two youths from Guwahati were lynched by a mob at Dokmoka in Karbi Anglong district on the suspicion of the duo being child lifters.
The incident had triggered widespread condemnation and campaigns against fake news across the state besides several arrests by Assam police.