Assam: Youth's body found hanging from tree; family alleges murder for not converting to marry girlfriend
Darpan News Desk IANS, 15 Sep, 2022 12:56 PM
Guwahati, Sep 15 (IANS) In a shocking incident at a remote tea garden area at Koilamari Balijan in Assams Lakhimpur district, the body of a tribal youth -- Biki Bishal (20) -- was found hanging from a tree, the police said on Thursday.
The local people and Bishal's family members claimed that he was found with multiple wounds on Wednesday. It is alleged that Bishal was killed for not agreeing to convert to Christianity in order to marry his tribal girlfriend.
Though the police are yet to confirm whether the youth was killed or committed suicide, they have arrested five people in connection with the case.
The detainees include Bishal's girlfriend's father, two relatives and two officials of a local church in the area.
The victim's family has alleged that Bishal was called by someone from his girlfriend's family to her village on September 11 and had been missing since then.
"Bishal was killed and hanged since there was pressure on him to convert to his girlfriend's religion if he wished to marry her," a family member of the victim said.
Locals and the family members also said that Bishal and his girlfriend had eloped earlier this month as they wanted to get married, and subsequently Bishal had brought the girl to his home on September 3.
On September 6, the girl's family members, accompanied by some church officials, came to Bishal's house and allegedly took the girl away forcefully against her will.
The family members and villagers protested outside the local police station on Thursday, demanding justice for Bishal's family.
While briefing the officers, the DGP said the topmost priority of the government, as directed by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, is to further strengthen the fight against drugs to make Punjab a drug-free state, besides eliminating the gangster culture, maintaining law and order, and detection of crime.
Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur announced Rs 5 lakh to the next of the kin of the deceased, whereas Rs 15,000 as immediate relief for the injured. He said free treatment would be provided to the injured.
Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Monday carried out his first Cabinet expansion by inducting five legislators, including second-time MLA Aman Arora, into his council of ministers. The expansion came in less than four months of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) sweeping to victory in the Assembly elections by winning 92 seats of the 117 seats.
The police have so far managed to nab four of the accused, including one woman, who have been identified as Gurjant Singh (31), Navjot Singh (30), Satpal Singh (28) and Gurpreet Kaur (30).
The ambidextrous sharpshooter, identified as Ankit alias Chhota, a resident of Sonipat in Haryana, was most desperate to commit the crime."He fired simultaneously from two pistols in his two hands," H.G.S. Dhaliwal, Special Commissioner (Special Cell), said during a media briefing.
With this the two-and-half year old, three-party Shiv Sena-Nationalist Congress Party-Congress government experiment has collapsed, barely hours after Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari ordered a floor test late on Tuesday night.
