Guwahati, DeC 20 (IANS): Senior Congress leaders including the Assam unit chief Bhupen Borah were taken into custody on Friday after they took part in a protest rally in Guwahati demanding justice for the death of deceased Congress worker Mridul Islam.
Apart from Bhupen Borah, other leaders like Ripun Borah, Uday Bhanu Chib, and senior spokesperson Ratul Kalita were also detained by the police, disrupting the Congress party’s protest.
As per the latest information, the leaders were detained at the 10th APBN in Kahilipara, Guwahati.
Meanwhile, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma ordered a probe into Congress party worker’s death.
The 45-year-old Mridul Islam died on Wednesday after participating in a Congress protest march to Raj Bhawan in Guwahati. The Congress party has alleged that the police used excessive tear gas to disrupt the protest and this was the reason behind Islam’s untimely death.
The state unit of the Congress party has lodged a complaint against the local police, claiming that the police used excessive tear gas shells which led to the passing away of Mridul Islam.
Islam was a member of the State Congress Legal Cell and a lawyer by profession, according to the party.
The deployment of tear gas by the state police, according to Assam Congress General Secretary Bipul Gogoi, was not only excessive but also indiscriminate, affecting everyone in the vicinity, including the elderly, children, and individuals with respiratory conditions and they did so without any provocation.
According to the state Congress, Mridul Islam was among the numerous demonstrators who sustained injuries due to police actions, and who were already having difficulties as a result of the tear gas.
“It is clear that the actions of the Assam Police directly led to his tragic death. This FIR is being filed to request that immediate and strict action be taken against the responsible police personnel for their excessive and unlawful use of force, which directly caused the death of an innocent citizen,” Gogoi said in his complaint.
Diganta Barah, the Commissioner of Police in Guwahati, refuted the claims by the Congress party, stating that the cause of Islam's death was yet unknown.