Assam: Four held for allegedly assaulting newspaper employees in Silchar

Police said the incident took place around 5:30am on Saturday when the newspaper workers were returning home from their night-long duties

Assam’s Cachar police have arrested four youths, aged between 19 to 23, for allegedly assaulting employees of a newspaper organisation in Silchar town.

(Representative Photo)

Cachar superintendent of police (SP) Numal Mahatta said that four persons were arrested for assaulting employees of the local daily Bartalipi Dainik.

“The miscreants looted cash and a mobile phone. We have identified the accused and have recovered the mobile phone. Lawful action is underway against the culprits,” the SP said.

The arrested youths have been identified as Pritam Sutradhar (21), Rupak Sutradhar (23), Akash Roy (19) and Jeet Bhattacharjee (22), all residents of Silchar town.

Police said the incident took place around 5:30am on Saturday when the newspaper workers were returning home from their night-long duties.

Police said that they have registered a first information report (FIR) based on the victim’s complaint, according to which the four accused initially attacked him and snatched his mobile phone and other belongings. However, the attackers managed to escape after the victim’s friends, who were also returning home from late-night duty, saw the incident and rescued him, said the FIR.

Bartalipi Dainik owner Rudranarayan Gupta told HT on Sunday that the employees who were attacked work in the machine room and they work till the wee hours every day.

“It was an unfortunate incident and we are thankful that these boys are safe. As per the medical reports, the injuries are not severe. The police department has acted promptly and arrested the culprits but we insisted the SP to find the root cause of this,” Gupta said.

Locals allege that it was the work of drug-addict youths who attack people for money. Similar incidents have been reported in the past, they said.