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Assam journalist killed in hit-and-run case; TV channel alleges murder
Police arrest two people from Arunachal Pradesh; chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal orders CID probe
Allegations of murder have surfaced following the death of a journalist of an Assamese news channel in a hit-and-run case in Tinsukia district of upper Assam.
Parag Bhuyan, the Kakopathar correspondent of Pratidin Time, was critically injured after he was hit by a vehicle near his home on NH-15 on Wednesday around 8.15pm, close to the Kakopathar police station.
The 53-year-old, the brother of former minister Jagadish Bhuyan, was initially admitted to a local hospital and later shifted to a private hospital in Dibrugarh where he succumbed to his injuries in Thursday morning.
In a statement, Pratidin Time blamed the local police for being slow in pursuing the case and acting only after intervention of chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal.
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“The initial lacklustre approach of the police gave us reason to be suspicious about the whole incident and we suspect that the brave journalist was murdered as he had been doing a series of reports exposing illegalities and corruption around Kakopathar. He had received personal threats for these reports,” the statement read.
“We suspect it is a planned murder and demand a detailed inquiry into the whole incident and give justice to the family of late Bhuyan and Pratidin Time,” it added.
Chief minister Sonowal handed over the probe on Bhuyan’s death to the state’s criminal investigation department (CID) on Thursday evening.
In a statement, Sonowal mourned the untimely death of Bhuyan and conveyed his sympathy to the journalist’s family.
In a press release issued on Thursday, Assam Police said that two persons, James Murha and Baba Bordoloi, the driver and helper of the vehicle which hit Bhuyan, were nabbed from Namsai in Arunachal Pradesh on Thursday morning.
“During interrogation, the driver admitted to having caused the accident due to negligence while returning after unloading tree leaves collected from various areas around Doomdooma,” the police release said.
“The driver said that they fled from the scene after the accident as they were afraid that the public might assault them. The vehicle involved in the accident has been seized and further investigation is on,” it added.
