GUWAHATI: The police arrested 13 persons in connection with Monday’s lynching of an All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) leader in Jorhat even as Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma directed the cops to file the chargesheet within 30 days.
“We have so far arrested 13 people, including the main culprit Niraj Das alias Kola Lora. Our investigation is on,” Jorhat Superintendent of Police, Ankur Jain told The New Indian Express.
Das, a drug peddler, was said to be a hardened criminal against whom several cases are registered in various police stations.
The AASU shut down Jorhat on Tuesday. The SP said people observed the bandh responding to the call of the students’ body.
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A mob of over 50 people had attacked the AASU leader Animesh Bhuyan, a journalist working with a local TV channel and another person after an old man fell off his scooter and was injured.
The mob suspected the trio of hitting the man with their car and attacked them, leaving them grievously injured. They were rushed to a hospital but Bhuyan succumbed to his injuries on the way. The attack was perpetrated in broad daylight.
The AASU had on Monday given 24 hours’ time to the police to arrest every member of the lynch mob and give them exemplary punishment.
Bhuyan was a local leader of AASU from Dergaon in neighbouring Golaghat district. He had visited Jorhat along with the two others in connection with his business.
CM Sarma directed Special Director-General of Police GP Singh to supervise the probe. At his direction, Education Minister Manoj Pegu visited the house of the slain student leader.
Sarma said all the accused had been identified and he had passed instructions for trial in a fast-track court.
The state government offered an ex gratia of Rs 5 lakh to the family of the deceased. The two injured were recovering.