Four Assam Police personnel attached to Bordumsa police station of Margherita sub-division in Tinsukia district were suspended on Wednesday for their alleged involvement in creating fear-psychosis and extorting money from a drug peddler.
The police personnel and the drug peddler were by activists of Moran Students’ Union and locals on Tuesday afternoon and were handed over to Bordumsa police.
The policemen were booked in a case No 25/19 and the case was registered under section 385 of the IPC.
They have been identified as Mridul Ahmed, Rajiv Bora, Kiran Sonar and Lila Gohain.
Also read: Drug peddler nabbed with brown sugar in Arunachal’s Bordumsa
While Mridul Ahmed is a police constable, the three others are personnel of the 2nd Battalion of Assam Police.
Confirming the suspension of the police personnel, an official source at Assam Police said, “Along with the three arrested drug peddlers including a woman, the policemen will also face legal action for the dereliction of duty.”
Meanwhile, 24-year-old Radha Moran, wife of Amal Moran, a resident of Bordumsa Bazar area; 42-year-old Ashim Konwar alias Huntu, son of late Anil Konwar of Bordumsa Bazar area and 34-year-old Guna Bora of Ulup village in Margherita were also arrested in a case registered under section 385 of IPC, r/w 21 (b) of NDPS Act.
Around 85 gm of suspected brown sugar were also recovered from the possession of the drug peddlers.
According to information, Guna Bora was inhaling contraband substances at the residence of a local drug peddler, Ashim Konwar in the bazaar area wherein the public nabbed both of them and handed over to four policemen (who have been suspended).
The matter grew worse when the policemen instead of taking them to the police station for taking legal action started negotiating with Bora.
A deal was finally settled at Rs 25,000 against the initially demanded amount of Rs. 50,000. But ill luck waited for the corrupt police personnel as the locals and activists of Moran Students’ Body stepped in amidst the process of transaction and became eyewitness of the nasty affairs.
Later gaining strength with gathering more people, the crowd conducted raid in the nearby fish market and hotels mushrooming illegally along the border road resulting in recovery of 9 small sachets of suspected brown sugar containing 5 gm in each packet from the possession of Radha Moran.
Several hundred of bottles of foreign liquor, procured from Arunachal’s wine retailers stored in a hotel run by Radha Moran, were also recovered and destroyed by the infuriated mob.
The agitated crowd, who raised anti-police slogans till Tuesday late night, demonstrated their wrath and resentments in front of the police station demanding exemplary punishment to all those involved in the act.
It is pertinent to add that the fish market, which is unstructured, unplanned and unregistered, spread in a privately owned land on one side of the border roads in Assam, is widely known for open sale of drugs using coded language like Pitha-guri.
The drug menace has greatly affected the lives of inter-state border people.
“From here the drugs are smuggled to all the nearby interior locations along the Assam-Arunachal border like Namsai, Mahadevpur, Chongkham,Tezu, Pyong, Diyun, Miao, Kharsang Pengaree, Digboi, Margherita, Inthem, Mugongpather Jagun, Jairampur and Kakopather,” admitted a habitual drug consumer of the bazar area on condition of anonymity.
The Gorkha students’ body alleged the unabated illegal encroachment around the fish market area has become a major concern but the sub-divisional administration has not taken any step despite repeated pleas.