6 injured in Assam police custody in two months

The Assam government has intensified the drive against drug and cattle smuggling

At least six alleged criminals received gunshot wounds since May 10 while “trying to flee” from police custody in Assam.

This period also saw 11 others, including nine claimed to be extremists, killed in encounters with the armed forces across the State.

The injured — most were shot in the leg — were two cattle smugglers, a policeman allegedly involved in case of abduction, a 62-year-old arrested for rape and murder of a minor girl, a dacoit and a drug peddler. A seventh wanted in the rape and murder of two sisters in western Assam’s Kokrajhar district was shot in the leg when he tried to “resist arrest and flee”.

On Friday night, the police shot and injured an alleged cattle smuggler in Kokrajhar district. “He tried to flee after snatching the pistol of a police officer,” the district’s Superintendent of Police Thube Prateek Vijaykumar said.

The encounters and custodial injuries are believed to be the outcome of a drive against organised crime — drug trafficking, smuggling of cattle and forest resources — and extremism after the Himanta Biswa Sarma took charge on May 10.

Barring the incident on Friday night, Assam’s Special Director General of Police, G.P. Singh, outlined the failed attempts of the five accused to flee.

On June 22, an alleged drug peddler named Safikul was shot while trying to escape from police custody after being arrested at Dharapur on the outskirts of Guwahati. The narrative was similar in the case of alleged cattle smuggler Mozammil Haque in Barpeta district on June 24 and wanted dacoit Sahidul Islam in Dhubri district on June 26.

Raj Babu Singh, a police constable detained in connection with the kidnapping of a man from Guwahati, was similarly injured on June 29. Three days later, Mr. Singh took to Twitter saying sexagenarian Syed Ali, accused of rape-murder of a girl in Morigaon district, was shot while trying to escape on the pretext of answering nature’s call.

Of the 11 killed in encounters, eight died in two separate incidents in Karbi Anglong districts. Six of them were members of the Dimasa National Liberation Army, a new outfit. A ninth extremist killed in Dhemaji district belonged to the Liberal Democratic Council of Misingland.

On June 23, the Sivasagar district police gunned down Bubu Konwar, a gangster wanted in several cases of murder, abduction and vehicle thefts.

The last such incident on July 2 saw the police kill Kanwaldeep Singh Sidhu, a former officer with the Railways Protection Special Force caught for his alleged involvement in a kidnapping case.

The police said he was being brought to Guwahati from Karbi Anglong district when he snatched a policeman’s weapon and fired. He succumbed to bullet injuries at the Dillai Community Health Centre in Karbi Anglong district.

The Assam police had on June 4 warned recidivists — convicted criminals who offend repeatedly — of “what lies ahead of you”.

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