Guwahati, Jan. 10 (IANS): One person was killed and several others were injured in police firing to disperse an irate mob protesting over an alleged custodial death in Darrang district of Assam on Wednesday.
Several officials of police and other security forces, including a Deputy Superintendent of Police, were among those injured in the mob attack.
Indefinite curfew was clamped in and around Dhula to ensure violence did not spread further. Although the situation in the area was under control, tension continued to simmer.
The state government ordered a magisterial probe into the circumstances leading to the police firing and subsequent civilian death.
The violence started in the morning when hundreds of people gathered in front of Dhula police station after the death of Hasen Ali on Tuesday night there. Earlier, angry locals protested on the National Highway 15 to demand action against the guilty police officials.
Ali, a daily wager, was allegedly picked up by police station incharge on Tuesday night and tortured. Although police sent him to the Guwahati Medical College and Hospital, he died. Police also searched Ali’s house after suspecting him of possessing illegal firearms.
As locals gathered at the Dhula police station, police lathi-charged them. When the irate mob turned violent and attacked the police station with stones, police fired blanks to control the situation.
“Blank firing was ordered to disperse the crowd. However, two protesters were hit. Mohidul Islam breathed his last later while another injured person Ghulam Mustafa was struggling for life in a hospital,” police said.
“Locals allege that Ali died in custody following police atrocities. We have already ordered a magisterial probe and officer concerned, Ranjit Hazarika, has been placed under suspension,” Darrang Deputy Commissioner Ashok Kumar Barman said.
He said the mob attacked the police station even though all their demands were met. “If the police official is found guilty, action will be taken against him,” Barman said. Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal ordered Additional Chief Secretary M.G.V.K. Bhanu to inquire and submit a report on the incident at the earliest.
