The body of a former panchayat member and a minority leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was found floating in a river in Assam’s Karimganj district on Friday, police said.
The deceased, identified as Abdul Sattar (47), had been missing since October 23, according to his family members.
Police have registered a case under murder charges based on a complaint lodged by the victim’s family members, Karimganj superintendent of police (SP), Partha Pratim Das said on Friday.
“There are external injury marks on various parts of his body which indicates that he was tortured. Following the complaint lodged by the family members we have registered a case under murder and some other charges,” the SP said.
Das said that they have identified some of the accused persons but preferred not to reveal their names for the sake of investigation.
According to the family members, at around 9pm on October 23, Sattar received multiple calls and he told his family members that he has to go to the local MLA’s house for an important meeting.
“He didn’t return at night and when we called him at around 12.30am, we found that his mobile was switched off. The next day, we informed the police and other leaders of the party,” said a family member.
{{/usCountry}}“He didn’t return at night and when we called him at around 12.30am, we found that his mobile was switched off. The next day, we informed the police and other leaders of the party,” said a family member.
{{/usCountry}}Sattar’s son told the media that a group of Congress leaders had threatened to behead him during a brawl around four months ago.
“A local Congress leader named Surman Ali of our village announced that he’ll pay big money to whoever kills my father. His companions, Mukabbir Ali and Sattar Ali, on the same day said that they’ll behead my father, cook his head and will eat it,” Sattar’s son said.
They have named all three along with a lady in their FIR lodged at Patharkandi Police Station on Friday.
Police said that the dead body was noticed by locals on Friday morning and it has been sent to Silchar Medical College and Hospital (SMCH) for postmortem.
Sattar’s family members claimed that his body was found inside a sack and his hands and feet were tied. “They killed him and the body was thrown in the river along with big stones,” they said.
Local police have confirmed that the hands and feet were tied but they said that before proper investigation, they won’t comment on this.
“There is a large injury mark on his forehead but we cannot reveal much before we get the postmortem report,” an investigating officer said.
BJP MLA from Patharkandi, Krishnendu Paul told HT that it was a case of murder, and they demand a high-level enquiry.
“A person went missing, and his dead body found in such a condition clearly shows that it was a murder. Police have identified the accused, and we demand their immediate arrest,” he said.
Paul said that this was not the first such case in that area and he is going to inform chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma about it.