DERGAON, July 6 � Sensation prevails in the Rangamatty area under the Dergaon police station following the lynching of a person and burning of the vehicle that was allegedly used in lifting cattle from the area this morning.
Villagers brutally killed Jonti Ali (38), the driver of the vehicle in which cows stolen from the Rangamatty Tea Estate area were allegedly being carried. The villagers caught the driver red-handed, chopped off his limbs and threw his body on to the NH-37 around 4 am this morning.
The villagers alleged that a gang of four had picked up two pairs of bulls from the TE area and pushed them into the Tata 207 DI vehicle (AS03-AC-1153).
About a thousand villagers subsequently blocked the NH-37 demanding the arrest of the cattle lifters.
The SP Golaghat PP Singh, DSP (Headquarters) Amandeep Kaur, Dergaon OC Hemen Das, Dergaon Circle Officer Lakhimi Dutta and the Khumtai Circle Officer then rushed to the spot and tried to assure the agitated villagers that police would immediately take steps to nab the thieves. But the villagers refused to budge even after this assurance, compelling the police to resort to lathicharge and then open fire into the air to disperse the crowd.
The protesters also pelted stones at the policemen, during which a cameraperson of a private news channel, Parag Gogoi, was injured.
Finally, after seven hours, the villagers relented and ended the blockade.
The body of the driver has since been sent for post-mortem. No arrest has been made till the filing of this report.
