A 23-year-old man was lynched by a mob in eastern Assam’s Jorhat district on May 29, a week after a middle-aged vegetable vendor was killed in a similar incident in Kamrup district.
Jorhat district officials said the man, identified as Debasish Gogoi from Nakachari Milgaon near Mariani town, succumbed to injuries on Saturday night at the Jorhat Medical College and Hospital (JMCH), about 20 km away.
According to eyewitnesses, the incident happened after an accident on a road to a picnic spot through the Gabharu Parbat Tea Estate close to the border with Nagaland.
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Mr. Gogoi and his friend Aditya Das, riding a two-wheeler, were stopped from going to the picnic spot by the tea estate’s watchmen. A quarrel that ensued was brought under control but the duo had allegedly hit two women, both plantation workers, when they were on their way back home.
“Our two-wheeler skidded and the accident happened in front of the garden’s tea factory. A crowd gathered and began raining blows and kicks on us,” said Mr. Das, who is undergoing treatment for injuries at the JMCH.
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The tea estate falls under the jurisdiction of the Deberapar police outpost.
“We are interrogating four people who have been picked up in connection with the incident. A case has been registered against them,” said outpost’s in-charge R. Dutta. He said others could be arrested soon.
A similar incident happened on May 23 after a bicycle-borne vegetable vendor allegedly grazed a vehicle at Monahkuchi village near Kamrup district’s Hajo, about 35 km northwest of Guwahati. The police said two of the five people identified as the lynchers have been arrested.