A person accused of inciting a mob to burn down a police station in central Assam’s Nagaon district died in a road ‘accident’ early on Monday morning.
The Batadrava police station was set on fire by scores on May 21 after the alleged custodial death of a fish seller, identified as 39-year-old Safiqul Islam of Salnabari area. The local administration reacted to the arson by bulldozing the houses of five people accused of involvement in the arson, claiming they had built the structures illegally on encroached land.
Nagaon’s Superintendent of Police Leena Doley told mediapersons that the accident happened in the Raidingiya area around 2.30 a.m. when Ashiqul Islam jumped out of the police vehicle he was in and was hit by another police vehicle. He was said to be the mastermind of the Batadrava police station attack.
She said the accused surrendered before the police on May 29 and confessed to keeping illegal firearms at his house. He was taken by a police team to recover a 7.62 mm pistol, a .22 pistol, seven rounds of bullets and a mobile phone.
“We also recovered the red T-shirt he wore on the day of the Batadrava incident. While returning to the police station, he made an attempt to escape and was hit by another police vehicle that lost control. He was injured and was taken to a hospital where he was declared dead by the doctors,” Ms. Doley said.
She added that the driver of the police vehicle, a sub-inspector and a home guard sustained injuries in the accident.
She also said 11 people had been arrested by the Nagaon police in connection with the arson case so far.
Similar accident
Ashiqul Islam’s death was similar to that of Niraj Das, the prime accused in the mob-lynching of All Assam Students’ Union leader Animesh Bhuyan in eastern Assam’s Jorhat in December 2021. Das, too, had jumped off a police vehicle and was hit by another that lost control.
More than 45 people, all alleged criminals of different hues, have been killed in encounters or while trying to escape from police custody often after snatching a firearm. According to statements from the police, scores of others have been shot in the legs while attempting to escape.
On May 29, a man accused of rape in Karbi Anglong district’s Diphu was shot in the leg while allegedly trying to escape from the Diphu Medical College. Iqbal Hussain, the accused, had allegedly raped a minor student when she was going home from school on May 28.
Hours later, the police in north-eastern Assam’s Biswanath district shot and injured Zakir Hussain while he was trying to escape two days after he was arrested on charges of rhinoceros poaching.
