Kokrajhar Tense After Mob Lynching of Youth: Internet Suspended, RAF Deployed
Two members of the attacking group, Mahesh Murmu and Sunil Murmu, were seriously injured. All the injured are undergoing treatment at Kokrajhar Medical College Hospital.
Guwahati: Tension prevailed in Western Assam’s Kokrajhar belt following the mob lynching of a Bodo youth in Karigaon. The state administration has suspended mobile Internet services. Security sources said that victims, associated with a road construction project were returning on Monday night after a site inspection in the Aoudang area in a vehicle.
As they reached the Gourinagar Mashing Road stretch, a group of local villagers attempted to stop the vehicle, allegedly suspecting them to be cattle lifters, which led to the vehicle skidded off the road.
The mob attacked the occupants and set the vehicle on fire. The police said that one youth, Sikhna Bismit, was burnt alive inside the vehicle. Two others — Yubiraj Brahma and Prabhat Brahma — sustained serious injuries, with Yubiraj’s condition reported to be critical.
Two members of the attacking group, Mahesh Murmu and Sunil Murmu, were seriously injured. All the injured are undergoing treatment at Kokrajhar Medical College Hospital.
The killing sparked strong protests in Karigaon, with locals blocking National Highway 27, leading to disruption of vehicular movement. Protesters demanded the immediate arrest of all those involved and strict punishment for the culprits. Tension escalated as an agitated mob allegedly set fire to four houses at an abandoned camp of surrendered Adivasi militants.
Informing that the incident soon took a communal colour, security sources said that mobs from both communities came out in large numbers demanding justice but in the process the mob started attacking each other. The mob also clashed with police which were trying to contain the situation.
The All Bodo Students Union (Absu) which joined the protest has called for a Bodoland Territorial Council bandh on Wednesday. Police said that they have arrested 19 people and trying to identifying those involved in mob-lynching of Bodo youths.
The police said that two companies of Rapid Action Forces have rushed to the area to assist the administration.
