Guwahati, Aug 7: A man arrested with heroin, along with cash and gold, was critically injured after police personnel opened fire on him when he allegedly tried to snatch a constable's firearm during an escape bid in Assam's Kamrup Metropolitan district on Saturday, an officer said.
The incident took place when the accused person, who was nabbed on Friday, was being taken by personnel of Bharalumukh police station to Matia in Azara police station area to locate his associates, he said. The accused tried to escape by snatching a constable's carbine after injuring him, and other policemen shot at the man's leg, injuring him, the officer said. The accused is undergoing treatment at Gauhati Medical College and Hospital, where his condition is stated to be critical, while the constable has been admitted to Azara Rural Hospital, he said.
With this incident, 31 arrested people have been injured and 15 killed in police encounters while attempting to flee custody in Assam since the Himanta Biswa Sarma government assumed charge on May 10. The unabated police encounters have led the opposition and a section of the civil society to accuse the police under the second BJP government in the state of indulging in "open killings".
The Chief Minister had earlier said that the police have been given "full operational liberty" under the ambit of the law to fight criminals.
The Assam Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has taken suo moto cognisance of the encounters and asked the state government on July 7 to institute an inquiry into the circumstances that led to the casualties in police encounters in the last two months.
Earlier, a New Delhi-based lawyer from Assam, Arif Jwadder, had filed a complaint with the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) against the Assam Police for the series of encounters that have taken place under Sarma's rule.
