Main instigator in Assam lynching case arrested

GUWAHATI: Police in Assam have arrested a 30-year-old man alleged to be the prime accused in the lynching of two men, who were killed last week on suspicion of being “child-lifters” in Karbi Anglong district, a senior official said on Wednesday.

“He is the prime instigator of the incident.

He is the one who made that phone call to the villagers spreading the rumour of the presence of two child-lifters,” director general of police (DGP) Kuladhar Saikia said.

Alphajoz Timung was apprehended on Tuesday night after being on the run for a few days since the lynching.

Later, addressing the press, Saikia said how Timung confronted Nilotpal Das, a Goabased sound engineer, and Guwahati-based businessman Abhijeet Das, who were on their way to a popular waterfall in Kangthilangso on June 8.

He had an altercation with them accusing them of child-lifters. They reportedly denied, and left the place after which Timung made phone calls to villagers saying the duo were child-lifters. They were lynched by around 250 locals in Panjari Kachari village.

“Timung was on the run on his motorbike within a geographical area of 20 square kilometres.

We managed to track him down through the three cellphones he was carrying,” a senior police official said.

Police have so far arrested 28 people for their alleged role in the killings, ADGP Mukesh Agarwal said.

Timung, according to an investigator, was the person who interacted with Das and Nath, close to the waterfall in Kangthilangso village.