Mystery shrouds the death of two young women whose bodies, with scanty clothes, were found near the rail track on the outskirts of the city and close to Lokapriya Gopinath Bardoloi international airport over the past two days — one on Thursday night and the other in the wee hours of Friday.
Even as the police are yet to ascertain their identities and are awaiting post mortem and other medical reports, an angry crowd laid siege to the Azara police station and blocked National Highway 37 for several hours from morning, alleging that the women had been sexually assaulted and murdered and that the crime was being covered up as an accident. The police resorted to lathi charge to disperse the crowd.
The police arrested three persons including two taxi drivers after one of them, Kishore Das, claimed that the two women who were riding in his cab died (the vehicle normally operates between the airport and the city) when it met with an accident late Tuesday night.
The police said they recovered the bodies, based on the confession of Kishore, found dumped in bushes near the rail track, away from the accident spot.
Kishore was traced only after his car was found abandoned near the accident site. He, the police said, claimed that one of the women died on the spot and the other was critically injured, and that he dragged both of them to be dumped near the rail track. The police have also detained the owner of the car.
Inspector-General (Law and Order) S.N. Singh told The Hindu nothing was ruled out and all angles including sexual assault were being investigated.
City Senior Superintendent of Police A.P. Tiwari told journalists that Kishore confessed that he had picked up the two women in his taxi from near Azara around 8 p.m. on Tuesday and taken them to a place at Bongora near Mirza, where the three and two accomplices of the driver — who were riding another taxi — stayed for four-five hours.
Kishore also admitted that he had consumed liquor along with his accomplices and claimed that the accident occurred when he was returning to the city to drop the two women.
Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi has strongly condemned the incident and underlined the need for a fast-track trial in such cases. He said such incidents are a blot on society.
The Assam State Commission for Women registered a suo moto case into the incident and urged the State Director General of Police J.N. Choudhury and the SSP A.P. Tiwari to take action. The Commission also expressed concern over rising incidents of crimes against women such as murder, rape, sexual abuse and molestation in the city and urged the police to take effective measures to ensure that guilty are not spared.
