Guwahati, Aug 14 (IANS): An Imam was arrested on Monday by the police for allegedly being involved in the merciless killing of a 12-year-old student in a Madrasa in Assam’s Cachar district.

In the wee hours on Sunday, the beheaded body of a student identified as Rabijul Hussain was discovered in the dorm room of the Darus Salam Hafizia Madrasa in Dholai area of Cachar district. Police initially detained some 20 hostel mates of Hussain and a few teachers of the Madrasa.

Numal Mahatta, the Cachar district's superintendent of police, said that the Imam confessed to his crime during questioning and that he had been detained under multiple sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), including section 302 (murder).

The police officer claimed that when the accused allegedly assaulted the student last month, the Madrasa authorities took some minor action against the Imam. He was enraged by this, so he killed the 12-year-old minor boy as a form of retaliation.

After the student reported being harassed and spent a few days at his house, his father dropped him off at the Madrasa on Saturday, and the Imam killed him that evening, according to Mahatta.

Hafiz Mousin Rehman Khan, a native of the Kalain neighborhood of the Cachar district, has been named as the arrested Imam.

He has served as an Imam for the past five years, and according to the locals, he has been accused of torturing students on numerous occasions.

According to the police, the minor boy was killed with a sharp object. The Madrasa was sealed by police following the incident, and it will remain closed until they do their inquiry.