Guwahati: Two youths from Guwahati were battered to death in Assam’s Karbi Anglong district on Friday night on suspicion of being child lifters.
Police said Abhijit Nath and Nilutpal Das were on their way to the Kanthe Langshu picnic spot when their vehicle was attacked by a group of men at Panjuri Kachari village, 16 km from Dokmoka town. Eyewitnesses said the two boys were brutally hit by bamboo poles and wood, and tortured to death by a mob of ‘inebriated’ villagers.
“It happened when some local informed a group of villagers about two men travelling in a black car with an abducted child. These few villagers were drinking in the roadside dhaba and immediately called upon more people to trace the car and catch them. The mob stopped the car and surrounded the two boys inside. The village elders tried to stop them from hitting the boys, but they would not listen,” said a local shopkeeper of the area.
A disturbing video that emerged in local media showed the two youths begging for mercy – their face and body smeared with blood.
Nilutpal kept pleading, “I am an Assamese. My father’s name is Gopal Chandra Das and my mother is Radhika Das. We came here during the day time…”
But the mob continued to hit them mercilessly until they lay motionless on the road. Villagers cut off Nilutpal’s dreadlocks and they were found on the spot along with their belongings stained with blood.
Preliminary investigation reveals it to be a case of ‘mistaken identity’. Karbi Anglong police told News18 that they have located the people behind the incident and the culprits would soon be arrested.
Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal has ordered a probe into the incident and directed Additional Director General of Police, Mukesh Agarwal, to move to the spot.
“The incident took place at 8:42pm last night. A VDP member informed the officer-in-charge of Dokmoka police station of a mob attack. The OC rushed to the spot and had also informed 108 ambulance service suspecting some people might have got injured. When he reached the area, he saw one person lying motionless and another next to him was still breathing. Despite facing resistance from the mob, they managed to take the boy to the hospital where he was declared brought dead,” said GV Shiva Prasad Ganjala, Superintendent of Police, Karbi Anglong.
Nilutpal Das, 30, a permanent resident of Guwahati had been operating an event management company with his friends in Goa called Sema Luna. A promising musician, he was known to be playing traditional musical instruments like the Didgeridoo, Djembe and the mouth harp. His father, Gopal Chandra Das, is a retired railway officer and his mother, Radhika Das, a teacher at a government school in the city.
Abhijit Nath, 28, was a local contractor from Guwahati. His father, Ajit Nath, is an Agriculture department official and his mother, Shashiprava Nath, is a retired history professor of a government college in Assam.
Sources said the two youths left Guwahati on Friday morning in Abhijit’s black Mahindra Scorpio. They had supposedly gone to Dokmoka in search of ornamental fish. Police said the duo was seen by villagers looking for something in the water stream flowing under a sluice gate in the area. Reports said there is a fear psychosis in Karbi Anglong with people believing that outsiders in the area kidnapped children.
“We were coordinating with Dispur police station in Guwahati who informed us that two persons from the city had left for Dokmoka in search of ornamental fish. We matched the details with our findings here and confirmed their identity. If they would have asked for security at that time of the night, we would have led them to the place,” said GV Shiva Prasad Ganjala.
Meanwhile, parents of both victims have lodged police complaint and have demanded immediate arrest of the criminals.
(With inputs from Nilutpal Borah)
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