Guwahati, May 22
Assam Director-General of Police (DGP) Bhaskar Jyoti Mahanta on Sunday said that the in-charge of Batadrava police station, which was burnt down on the previous day by locals over allegations of custodial death, has been suspended.
Mahanta also claimed that those involved in the burning down of the police station with criminal records in it were not grieving relatives of the deceased but were history-sheeters, and asserted that this was not a simple action-reaction incident and there is much more to it.
“We take this unfortunate death very seriously and have put the OC of Batadrava police station in Nagaon district on suspension. If there is any foul play at our end, we mean to find that and punish the guilty according to law. No two ways about it,” he said.
Narrating the incident in a long Facebook post on the DGP’s official page, Mahanta said that 39-year-old Safiqul Islam was brought to the police station at 9.30 pm on May 20 after receiving a complaint of him being in a drunken state.
“He was in fact lying on a public road before he was brought in. He was booked after a medical check-up. The next day he was released and handed over to his wife. His wife even gave him some water/food.
