Assam’s Dibrugarh recovering from road rage triggered mob violence

Two days after violence related to road rage claimed two lives and left three others seriously injured, the situation in Assam’s Dibrugarh town has returned to normal.

The incident, which was sparked by an altercation over use of high beams by a driver on Wednesday night, had started rumours that resulted in mob violence. Many business establishments in the busy town had downed shutters on Thursday in protest.

“The situation is completely under control and normalcy has returned,” Dhrubajyoti Borah, Additional Superintendent of Police, Dibrugarh district said on Friday

Two persons, Gunin Chetia, a resident of Tinsukia town, and his friend Sanjay Ahmed, have been arrested. Three separate FIRs have been filed in connection with the incident and subsequent violence.

According to officials, the incident began when Chetia, who was driving to Assam Medical College Hospital (AMCH) in his car along with his mother and pregnant wife, was stopped by some persons who were coming from the opposite direction.

Accusing Chetia of driving with his high beams on, causing difficulty to motorists coming from the opposite side, the group allegedly thrashed Chetia before letting him go.

While Chetia was returning using the same route with Ahmed after dropping his mother and wife at AMCH, he saw the same persons and got into an altercation with them.

Things worsened with the group allegedly beating Chetia and damaging his car, which bore an Arunachal Pradesh registration plate.

Chetia and Ahmed allegedly responded by attacking the group with sharp weapons, injuring five of them. Injured were rushed to AMCH where two of them died.

As Chetia’s car had an Arunachal Pradesh number plate, a rumour soon started in the area that a group from the neighbouring state was involved in the incident.

“Without trying to verify details, several local residents came out and started searching for residents of Arunachal Pradesh who were staying in nearby hotels and started assaulting them and damaging their vehicles,” said a local police official.

The mob allegedly robbed some people of their cash and belongings.

“We have registered an FIR of the main incident in which two people died and three others were injured. Another FIR has been registered by a hotel owner whose property was damaged and the third one by a car owner whose car was attacked by the mob,” said Borah.