Tea garden firing: owners remanded to police custody

Golaghat (Assam), Dec. 14 (PTI): A Golaghat court today sent two owners of a tea-estate who had allegedly fired on their employees during a protest into police custody for 14 days. Sudhir Roy and Samir Roy, who owned the Bogidhola Tea Estate in Golaghat, were produced before the chief judicial magistrate’s court, which sent them to the police custody. Police yesterday arrested the brothers after rescuing them from a mob. The police also recovered two licenced guns from them. Two workers were injured in the firing. The brothers claimed before the media today that it was the workers who had fired after snatching their weapons. The labourers had also set on fire tea bushes in the garden, besides laying siege to the office of the tea estate, the owners alleged. Meanwhile, normal life was affected by a ‘district bandh’ called by the All Assam Tea Students Association, demanding severe punishment to the owners and financial compensation to the injured. Shops, markets, offices, business establishments and education institutions remained closed in the district, official sources said. Bandh supporters burnt tyres on the National Highway 39 and other roads blocking movement of vehicular traffic. The labourers claimed the owners had assured them that their postponed Durga Puja bonus would be paid by December 12 following an agreement in the Labourer Commission office on November 18.