A man in central Assam’s Nagaon district was allegedly burnt alive after a kangaroo court adjudged him guilty of murdering a woman.
The incident at Bor Lalung village came to light on Saturday after the police picked up five persons, including three women, for interrogation. The village is about 17 kilometres from district headquarters Nagaon.
Locals said the village governing body organised a trial after a woman, identified as Sabita Pator died three days ago under mysterious circumstances. During a trial, a villager claimed the woman was murdered by five persons and named Ranjit Bordoloi as the prime accused.
The man reportedly confessed to strangling Pator. This infuriated the villagers, who allegedly tied him to a tree, burnt him alive and buried the body.
The police exhumed the body and are probing the case.
“We received information that a man was burnt alive after a public hearing where he was held guilty of murdering another person. We have recovered the body and detained some people,” a local police officer said.
In March, a man was similarly burnt alive by irate tea plantation workers after he had allegedly killed a five-year-old boy at Dholajan Tea Estate in Dibrugarh district.
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has instructed the district authorities to probe the case and punish the guilty.
