GUWAHATI, May 1: A “wanted” coal mafia, who was arrested by Hailakandi police from Karimganj district’s Sutarkandi area in southern Assam on Friday, was shot dead by police during “cross-firing” in Hailakandi district on Saturday midnight.
Confirming the incident, Lala police station officer-in-charge A Basumatary informed The Shillong Times on Sunday that the coal mafia, identified as Abdul Ahad Choudhury, had allegedly managed to escape from police custody after he was escorted to Lala Civil Hospital in Hailakandi for a routine medical examination.
“Subsequently, during a search, he was shot dead in cross-firing at Lakhinagar on the intervening night of April 30 and May 1,” Basumatary said, without divulging more details.
Choudhury is reported to be one of the masterminds in operating an illegal coal transport racket from Meghalaya to Barak Valley in Assam.
The place of the “cross-firing”, Lakhinagar is situated along the border of Hailakandi and Karimganj districts.
Reports say that the wanted coal mafia was shot dead in a police encounter in a tea garden in Hailakandi district on Saturday night.
The deceased cola mafia was a resident of Karimganj district.
Speaking to media persons on Sunday, Hailakandi Superintendent of Police, Gaurav Upadhyay said the coal mafia was a serial offender and that several arms were recovered from him.
“Abdul Ahad Choudhury was a traditional offender with about 50 to 60 cases registered against him in fake currency, dacoity, land scams, coal syndicates, besides more than 15 criminal cases which are at different levels of trial and investigation,” Upadhyay said.
A suo motu case was earlier registered by police regarding seizure of a truck from a place under Lala Bazar police station for ferrying illegally smuggled coal on April 10, 2022.
During investigation, police found that the truck carrying around 25 tonnes of coal from Meghalaya had connections with Choudhury. A police official said the documents indicated his connection with smuggling and he was arrested. He was later released on bail.
Besides, there are multiple police cases against him related to illegal transportation of coal to Barak Valley from Meghalaya.
It may be mentioned that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had mentioned Abdul’s name in a case filed in 2020 while investigating the alleged illegal coal trade from Meghalaya to Bangladesh via Barak Valley.
Assam Police had arrested Abdul in July 2018 for his suspected involvement in illegal coal trade in Barak Valley and recovered a diary from his house.
According to reports, the diary had the names of some high-profile political leaders and police officials from both Meghalaya and Assam who were apparently ‘paid’ by Abdul every month for running the clandestine business.
The incident took place a day after a court in lower Assam’s Barpeta district pulled up Assam Police for registering a “false” case against Gujarat MLA Jignesh Mevani and “abusing the process of the court and the law”.
While granting bail to Mevani on Friday in an assault case, the Barpeta district and sessions court warned the Assam Police against “converting our hard-earned democracy into a police state”, a report stated.
“Converting our hard-earned democracy into a police state is simply unthinkable and if the Assam Police is thinking about the same, the same is perverse thinking,” said Barpeta District and Sessions Judge Aparesh Chakravarty in the order, the report added.
