DIBRUGARH, July 13 - The arrest of Bikash Das at the New Tinsukia railway station on Thursday morning and the subsequent arrest of his accomplice Bipin Pandey at the Banipur (Dibrugarh) station late last evening are turning out to be fortuitous for the police and the law-enforcing agencies. Marathon interrogation of the two at Tinsukia, Dibrugarh and Simaluguri are yielding vital information and what is unfolding is a net of faceless and ruthless criminals, moving around in society in a near perfect camouflage.
Both Das and Pandey have confessed to have raped and killed a 20-year-old student of Assam Agriculture University, Radha Kumari on Tuesday and 62-year-old woman Lalima Devi the next day. The first incident took place near Simaluguri on the Dibrugarh-Rangiya Express train and the second case was detected at Mariani on the Dibrugarh-Lalgarh Avadh Assam Express train on Wednesday. Both the incidents happened in the coach for disabled passengers, which are latched on both ends of a train for easy boarding and de-boarding by physically challenged persons. Such coaches are not connected by vestibules and as such, offer some privacy. This privacy was taken advantage of by the killers/rapists.
Tinsukia SP, Mugdha Jyoti Mahanta said the police have no criminal record of any kind against either Das or Pandey. However, interrogations are revealing their criminal histories, which have startled Assam Police.
Similarly, the police knew little about Biren Gogoi, who was picked up yesterday here. He was later released. He was arrested last year in connection with the murder of his wife, Swapna Gogoi, on August 28 last year. The police here also want to implicate him in a case of unnatural death of a female at the Banipur (Dibrugarh) station yard, which took place in March this year.
Local Additional SP here, Surjit Singh Panesar said the police are investigating if Gogoi belongs to any crime syndicate.
Bikash Das, in his early forties, hails from a Brahmaputra riverside village near Guijan. A suspected Hindu Bangladeshi, he married thrice. He left all his wives to take to petty crimes, as admitted before the police by his brothers. He sells tea as a (unlicensed) hawker, which is his camouflage. Prior to this, he used to hawk garments in train coaches. Bipin Pandey is known to drive a mini-truck and his friends in Tinsukia calls him �Chota Haati driver�.
Both Das and Pandey are suspected to be involved in theft cases in train compartments in the Dibrugarh-Tinsukia-Dimapur sections. They have already confessed to be involved in a few cases where train passengers were duped or made unconscious (by drugging them) before committing thefts.
What is of concern for the police is the duo�s inclination to target females for rape and murder. Of course they are perverts, said Mahanta, pointing to the two most recent cases where the victims were reportedly raped before being strangled to death with a gamusa. The serial killers have much more to tell the cops.
