Assam: 7 shops vandalized in Upper Assam

GUWAHATI, May 24, 2018: On Wednesday, seven shops owned by non-Assamese traders were ransacked in Upper Assam town.

The event is seen as a repercussion to Tuesday night's incident when two members of All Assam Students' Union (AASU), Ratul Dutta and Saundarjya Bhuyan Hazarika, were beaten up by four businessmen belonging to a Hindi-speaking community near the railway station. The razed shops were owned by businessmen belonging to Hindi-speaking community.

"On the basis of an FIR lodged by Dutta, we have arrested Amar Nath Gupta, Lohit Gupta, Anup Gupta and Sunil Gupta. We are also investigating today's incidents of vandalism and the accused persons will be arrested very soon," Golaghat police station officer in-charge Garga Narayan Bora said. Dutta is being treated at Kushal Konwar civil hospital.

On Wednesday, the arrested persons were  produced before the court of the additional chief judicial magistrate. Their bail petitions were rejected and they were sent to 14-day judicial custody.

Deputy commissioner Gaurav Bothra held a meeting with student and civil organisations in his office and appealed to them to maintain peace and tranquillity.

AASU organising secretary Raju Phukan denied allegations that AASU activists were involved in the ransacking of shops. "We suspect it was carried out by vested-interest groups to create tension ahead of the publication of the National Register of Citizens. We demand that all culprits be brought to book," he said, adding that Tuesday's incident was unfortunate and that all the citizens of the town had expressed concern over it.

The district unit of the BJP condemned both the incidents. Party district president Debajit Bora urged the police to nab all the culprits.

Source: The Telegraph

Featured image: The Telegraph