The houses of the accused in the arson incident in the Assam police station were bulldozed, the station in-charge suspended; SIT will investigate
Following the alleged death of a man at a police station in Nagaon, Assam, an angry mob torched the police station on Saturday. Three people were injured in this incident. Assam Police has constituted a SIT to investigate the matter. Along with this, the seriousness of the matter has been suspended to the Batadeo police station in-charge. Apart from this, a separate inquiry has also been ordered into the alleged custodial death of Safikul Islam. Assam Police sources said that the forensic team would investigate whether the mob had brought kerosene, petrol and set fire to the police station.
Sources said that the forensic team will also help in the investigation of the custodial death. Police officials have said that so far 21 people have been detained for vandalizing and setting fire to the police station. Authorities have bulldozed the huts and houses of the three main accused in the arson at the police station in Salonabari, Batadrawa. Government sources claim that these huts were built after ‘encroachment’.
Here, a day after the incident, on Sunday, Assam DGP Bhaskar Jyoti Mahanta wrote a long post on Facebook telling what happened in the police station. The DGP wrote, “Safikul Islam (39 years) was brought to the Batadrwa police station on the night of May 20, 2022 at 9:30 pm after receiving a complaint that he was intoxicated. He was actually on a public road before being brought to the police station. After medical examination, a case was registered against him. The next day he was released and handed over to his wife. His wife also gave him some water/food. Later he complained of illness and He was taken to two hospitals one after the other. Unfortunately he was declared brought dead.”
The DGP further wrote, “We are taking this unfortunate death very seriously and have suspended the office-in-charge of Batadrava police station. Rest of the staff of the police station have also been laid off. If there is any disturbance on our part. If so, we will investigate it and punish the guilty as per law. There is no doubt about it.”
The DGP also referred to the police station burning incident and wrote, “We all know what happened later that day. Some local anti-social elements took the law into their own hands and burnt the police station. These evil elements were women, men and women.” , young and old came in all forms but the preparation with which they came, the brutal and organized attack on the police force they carried out has made us think deeply. We do not think that these are the bereaved relatives of the dead. But as we have recognized, they were of bad character and criminal record and their relatives – the records kept inside the police station and all the evidence were burnt. So don’t think that this is a simple action-reaction incident. There is so much more.”
It is worth mentioning that the police of Batadrava police station had detained Safikul Islam from Salnabari area and had allegedly demanded a bribe of Rs 10,000 from him. The people involved in the mob have alleged that the police killed the fish seller Safikul Islam for being unable to pay the bribe amount.
The family of the deceased has claimed that the police assaulted Safikul Islam in custody. His family members said that when they went to meet him at the police station, they were told that he was unwell and had been admitted to the hospital. On reaching the hospital, the family came to know that Islam was dead and his body was kept in the morgue.
