The Assam Police on Saturday filed a chargesheet against 48 people in connection with the lynching of two men in Assam in June. On June 8, a mob in Karbi Anglong district beat Nilotpal Das and Abhijeet Nath to death on suspicion of being child abductors.
“It is a major achievement by the Assam Police that we could file the chargesheet within 90 days,” PTI quoted Assam Director General of Police Kuladhar Saikia as saying in Guwahati.
The accused have been charged under various sections of the Indian Penal Code pertaining to murder, wrongful restraint, and unlawful assembly, said Saikia.
The 844-page chargesheet, which includes 71 witnesses, has been submitted to the court of the Chief Judicial Magistrate at Diphu, the district headquarters of Karbi Anglong. The submitted documents also include a 104-page case diary, reported PTI.
“When a movement against mob lynching is going on everywhere, it is an important development for the entire country,” said Saikia. “We could attach the details of everyone’s crime and all the accused were arrested.”
“The case has been taken to a fast track court for immediate justice of the two youth,” The New Indian Express quoted Saikia as saying.
Nath’s family has demanded the death sentence for the accused, reported The New Indian Express. “We want that there is no lacuna in the chargesheet to thwart the accused persons from being granted bail,” said Nath’s mother.
Das and Nath, both artistes based in Goa, had returned home for the Bohag Bihu festival in June. They were purportedly on their way to a waterfall at Kangthilangso in the district when they stopped their vehicle at the village of Panjuri Kachari to ask for directions. A few villagers got suspicious and reportedly told the others that the men were child abductors and asked them to attack their vehicle.
Within 10 days of the incident, the Assam Police had arrested 36 suspects.
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