Five persons have been arrested and a magisterial enquiry ordered into the mob lynching of Debashish Gogoi at Mariani in Jorhat district.
Debasish, a 24-year-old youth, was a resident of Milgaon at Puthinidi area in Mariani.
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Debashish and his 23-year-old friend Aditya Das from Deberapar Chariali were beaten up by the workers of Gabroo Purbat tea estate under Deberapar police outpost near the Assam-Nagaland border on Friday evening.
Debashish succumbed to his injuries at Jorhat Medical College and Hospital (JMCH) on Saturday evening to where he was brought in an unconscious state from the incident site.
Aditya received treatment at JMCH for his injuries.
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Jorhat deputy commissioner Roshni A Korati said the probe will be conducted by ADC Biswajit Phukan.
A Deberapar police official said the four arrested are Ashok Sawra, Asif Nayak, Sachin Sawra and Radheshyam Kurmi, all workers, and Deepak Chabra (chowkidar) of Gabroo Purbat tea estate.
Also read: Assam: Vegetable vendor beaten to death in road rage in Hajo
As per the FIR, lodged by the family members of Debashish on Saturday evening, the victim had been severely assaulted by a mob of tea workers of the garden for reasons unknown due to which he lost his life.
A senior police official said as per preliminary investigation of the incident, a group of nine youths on three scooties and a motorcycle had gone inside the said tea estate reportedly to soak in the ambience if the place which had 28 hillocks.
But they, the official said, entered into an altercation and scuffle with the chowkidar for reportedly refusing to open the locks of the gate of the area.
But the chowkidar as per orders from the garden manager did not allow anyone to visit the said place during the lockdown period.
The police official said when the garden manager came to know about the incident he had sent an assistant manager to look into what was happening and after the intervention of the assistant manager, the matter was resolved and the youths reportedly agreed to return from the area.
“However, when they were returning, two of them, Debashish and Aditya, who were behind the others of the group, allegedly hit three persons near the garden factory causing a serious injury to one of them which required hospitalization,” the official said.
The official further said following the hitting of three persons, a mob of workers gathered at the site and beat up the duo which resulted in Debashish sustaining grievous injuries than Aditya and both were hospitalized.
When asked whether the youths were drunk, the official said this had not been established as yet.
He said everything will be clear after the arrival of the post-mortem report, which is awaited.
Jorhat deputy commissioner further said appeals have been made by the district administration to all concerned to maintain peace and harmony.
Tensions were simmering for quite some time with the father of the deceased telling newspersons that he had gone to the spot along with his daughter when he was informed that his son had met with an accident.
He also said they were not allowed to get down from their car and save Debashish, who was being mercilessly beaten up by the mob in front of their eyes.
He has also demanded justice for his son.
In a recent case of road rage, a vegetable vendor was allegedly beaten to death by five men after his bicycle hit their car at Monahkuchi village under Hajo police station in Assam’s Kamrup district.