Guwahati:Opposition members in Assam Assembly on Monday questioned Congress MLA Siddique Ahmod’s reported statement in a public meeting accusing Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi of failing to take action despite being informed that the rape accused, who hailed from Karimganj, would be dragged out from Dimapur Central Jail.
The opposition members asked how Ahmod knew that the accused Syed Farid Khan would be dragged out of the jail in Nagaland as asserted by him at a televised public meeting yesterday. Abdur Rahim Khan (AIUDF), Padma Hazarika (AGP) and other opposition members demanded clarification from the government as the statement was made by a ruling Congress MLA and make its stand clear. Otherwise there would be a law and order situation, they said.
Former minister Ahmod was seen making the statement against the Chief Minister at a public meeting televised by local news channels yesterday. Intervening, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Rockybul Hussain accused the opposition of trying to get ‘political mileage’ out of the issue which being a sensitive one should not be made a political one. Speaker Pranab Kumar Borah said there could not be any discussion in the House based on ‘hearsay’ and advised that a letter be written to the Centre for verifying Ahmod’s statement.
Later, Ahmod modified his statement and told the media that he had only informed Gogoi that trouble was brewing in Nagaland. Meanwhile, Assam PCC president Anjan Dutta has issued a show cause notice to Ahmod directing him to give his reply within three days from today. Informing reporters about the show cause, Dutta said further steps would be taken against Ahmod if the reply was not satisfactory.
Syed Farid Khan, remanded to judicial custody in Dimapur Central Jail on February 25 after he was arrested the day before on suspicion of raping a woman in Dimapur, was on March 5 dragged out by a mob that broke into the jail. Khan was stripped naked, severely beaten up, tied to a motor cycle and dragged for 7 km to the centre of Dimapur town, as he died of his injuries along the way and the mob hung his body at the clock tower. (PTI)
