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Assam: Lynching accused killed while trying to flee, say police
Niraj Das, alias Kola Lora, was among 13 people arrested by police in connection with the death of AASU office bearer Animesh Bhuyan.
The prime accused in the mob lynching case of a student leader in Jorhat district of Assam was killed in an accident on the early hours of Wednesday while trying to escape from police custody, the police said.
Niraj Das, alias Kola Lora, was among 13 people arrested by police in connection with the death of Animesh Bhuyan, an office bearer of All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) on Monday in a busy area of Jorhat town.
The death of the accused was followed by a cryptic message by the state’s special director general of police (law and order) GP Singh who tweeted: “For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction -- Newton’s third law”.
Singh’s tweet was shared by chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma with the message: “Assam will be free of crime and criminal, come what may”. Jorhat police superintendent Ankur Jain tweeted: “Niraj Das @ Kola Lora, you can’t escape every time”.
According to officials, Das, a known criminal with a past record of drug trafficking, was taken by a police team to locate a consignment of drugs (which he had claimed to have kept hidden) when he fought with the accompanying policemen and jumped out from the vehicle.
“During interrogation, he informed us about a consignment of drugs. Our team took him to recover it, but when the vehicle reached an empty stretch of road on outskirts of Jorhat, he managed to jump out of the moving vehicle. The incident happened around 2.10am,” said Jorhat police superintendent Jain.
“Das was hit by the police escort vehicle which was following the vehicle carrying him. Our driver tried to avoid hitting him, but couldn’t. The driver of the vehicle also lost control and hit a nearby wall injuring three policemen. An injured Das was rushed to Jorhat Medical College Hospital (JMCH) where he was declared brought dead,” he added.
Das is believed to have led a mob of nearly 20 people who assaulted Animesh Bhuyan and two of his acquaintances- Mridusmanta Mahanta (a journalist) and Pranay Dutta (another AASU leader)- on Monday over suspicion of them hitting his father Mohan Das, who was riding a scooter, with their vehicle.
Police investigation has revealed that Mohan Das lost his balance and fell down. But, when Bhuyan, Mahanta and Dutta sought to help him, Mohan shouted that his scooter was hit by the trio’s car. This led to a mob gathering at the spot that brutally assaulted the three.
A video, which went viral, showed a group of men, including Niraj Das assaulting Bhuyan in the middle of the road. A police team reached the spot and took the student leader to JMCH, where he was declared dead. The two others, Mahanta and Dutta, who sustained injuries, were released after treatment.
On Tuesday, police produced 12 of the 13 accused in a local court, where seven of them were sent to police custody for five days, and the others to judicial custody. Niraj Das wasn’t produced in court on Tuesday.
Reacting to Niraj’s death, human rights activist Dibyajyoti Saikia said: “We have seen a rise in so-called encounter deaths in Assam in the past few months. Though the Jorhat incident wasn’t an encounter, the escape of an accused from police custody and his death after allegedly getting hit by a police vehicle is bound to raise questions.”
“The entire incident was the outcome of a lynching in which the accused was involved. We need to think of enacting an anti-lynching legislation for Assam. Slow pace of trial and faulty investigation which results in acquittal of criminals have eroded public faith in the justice system and that’s why when accused persons get killed even when they are in police custody, it is applauded by a section. We need to see that rule of law prevails and justice is delivered by courts and not on the roads.”
