GUWAHATI: A college student in Assam was lynched by a mob of tea garden workers in front of his father and sister following an incident of a road mishap.
Debashish Gogoi (22), a B.Sc final semester student, and Aditya Das (22) were brutally beaten up by a mob of hundreds of people leaving them grievously injured on Friday evening.
While Gogoi succumbed to his injuries at the Jorhat Medical College and Hospital (JMCH) on Saturday evening, Das was still admitted to a private hospital at the Upper Assam town and recuperating. The police arrested four of the assailants.
The incident occurred at Gabharu Parbat area near Mariani in Jorhat district on Friday evening when the two friends from Nakachari, a small town located nearby, were returning home.
Official sources said the duo had set out on their scooty for sightseeing at a hill but a “chowkidar” at the tea estate did not allow them to pass through. This had led to an altercation but the garden manager intervened and settled the matter.
“After being denied passage, we were riding back home but our two-wheeler skidded and hit two women in front of Gabharu Parbat tea garden factory. Soon, hundreds of garden workers swarmed to the site. What followed next was a brutal attack on us,” Das told journalists.
On getting news of the assault, Gogoi’s father and elder sister had rushed to the site from their house, located 3 km away. They begged for mercy but the mob kept kicking the two men and raining blows on them. Later, the police arrived and rushed the duo to a local hospital which referred them to the JMCH.
Meanwhile, the police confirmed the arrest of the four people. They said a case had been registered and their investigation was on.
This is the second incident of mob-lynching in Assam in the past week. Last Sunday, Sanatan Deka, a middle-aged vegetable vendor, was beaten to death by five people after his bicycle had hit a two-wheeler in Kamrup district.