New Delhi/Guwahati: The Supreme Court has issued notices to the Assam government and five police officers on an appeal filed by Rimly Gogoi Saikia challenging the Gauhati High Court’s refusal to order a CBI probe into the alleged custodial torture and death of her brother, late Dipankar Gogoi.
A bench comprising Justice Sanjay Kumar and Justice K Vinod Chandran passed the order while hearing the petition titled Rimly Gogoi Saikia vs State of Assam & Ors.
The apex court also stayed proceedings in the complaint case pending before the Titabar Sub-Divisional Judicial Magistrate and directed that the Central Bureau of Investigation be added as a respondent in the matter.
The appeal was filed after the Gauhati High Court declined to hand over the investigation to the CBI in connection with allegations that Dipankar Gogoi was brutally tortured in police custody by officers of the Jorhat and Titabar police before his death in December 2023.
The respondents named in the case include the State of Assam, former Jorhat Superintendent of Police (SP) Mohanlal Meena, then SDPO of Titabor Kakoli Patgiri, Titabar Police Station officer-in-charge Lakhsman Kumar Das, and investigating officer (IO) Miraj Doley.
The petitioner Rimly Gogoi Saikia alleged that Meena was the prime accused in the custodial torture of her brother late Dipankar Gogoi.
Dipankar Gogoi, a 24-year-old resident of Birinasayek village in Assam’s Jorhat district, was found hanging near his home on December 26, 2023, days after being detained and interrogated in connection with a grenade blast near an Army camp in Lichubari on December 14 that year. His family has consistently maintained that he died by suicide after being subjected to severe physical and mental torture in police custody.
Rimly Gogoi Saikia had earlier moved the Gauhati High Court seeking an independent investigation. In April 2025, a division bench of the High Court comprising Justice Manash Ranjan Pathak and Justice Malasri Nandi directed the Assam government to produce the post-mortem and viscera reports of the deceased and asked that the Assam DGP and Jorhat SP be impleaded as parties.
The family alleged that Dipankar was illegally picked up by police on December 22, 2023, and tortured to force a confession regarding the blast case. They also claimed that visible injuries on his body were ignored during the initial probe.
The case had sparked widespread outrage in Assam, prompting Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma to order an additional Chief Secretary-level inquiry shortly after the death. The government had also announced compensation of Rs 3 lakh for the family, which Rimly Gogoi Saikia publicly rejected as “blood money” while demanding justice.
Senior advocate Shahrukh Alam appeared before the apex court for the petitioner along with advocates Arif Jwadder and Paras Nath Singh.