Police have registered a case against three members of All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) for allegedly vandalizing a shop in the HS Road area at Dibrugarh.
“On Thursday morning, 20-25 members from the students’ union went to Ladu Ram and Sons shop and demanded money from the owner,” an eyewitness said.
“But when the owner denied to give them money, they assaulted the workers of the shop and vandalised the furniture of the shop,” he added.
The owner of the shop said, “I gave Rs 30,000 to AASU members in February this year and they handed over a slip to me.”
“They came again on Thursday and demanded money. When I denied giving them money, they assaulted our staff and vandalised the furniture of my shop,” he added.
Complaints of demand for money in the name of students’ organizations from businessmen are common in upper Assam.
“A local journalist went to film the incident with his mobile phone but suddenly some members from the students’ outfit appeared in front of him and threatened him not to film the incident,” sources said.
But as the journalist refused to do so and told that it’s his duty to report the incident, they threatened him and allegedly took away his phone, sources added.
Police picked up three AASU members in connection with the case.
They were identified as Rituraj Mili, Papu Saikia and Abhinash Koch.
Later, they were released by the police.
Dibrugarh superintendent of police Sreejith T said, “After receiving the information, we immediately rushed to the place and saw that 20-25 members of the students’ union were present in front of the shop.”
“We have picked up three members of the students’ union for interrogation. We have registered a case (1414/20) at Dibrugarh police station against them,” the SP said.
However, the Dibrugarh unit of AASU denied the allegation.
They said some third party was involved in the matter to defame them.