Two govt employees arrested for ‘planning’ to kill Assam minister
GUWAHATI: THE EMPLOYEES HAD ALLEGEDLY SENT MESSAGES TO SEVERAL FORMER CONGRESS MINISTERS SEEKING ₹5 CRORE TO MURDER THE MINISTER
Assam Police have arrested two persons for allegedly planning to murder Himanta Biswa Sarma, an influential minister in the Sarbananda Sonowal-led BJP government in the state.
Fakruddin Ali and Pawan Ali, both fourth grade employees in the state health department, had allegedly sent SMSes to several former Congress ministers seeking ₹5 crore to murder the minister. Sarma, who holds finance, tourism, education and health portfolios, was a minister in the previous Congress regime led by Tarun Gogoi before he joined the saffron party in 2015.
“Based on information from reliable source, we nabbed the duo and seized a mobile phone from which they had sent four similar SMSes to different persons seeking money to kill Sarma,” Nabaneet Mahanta, additional superintendent of police Kamrup (Rural) told HT.
The SMSes were allegedly sent to mobile phones registered in the names of former chief minister Tarun Gogoi, minister Rockybul Ahmed and Congress leader Dulu Ahmed.
“The accused have told us that the fourth number belonged to state Congress chief Ripun Bora, but that is yet to be verified,” said Mahanta. Both accused were arrested on Tuesday and were remanded to two days police custody. They were produced in a local court on Friday, which remanded them to 14 days of judicial custody. Police have registered a case against the accused under various sections of IPC for attempt to murder, criminal conspiracy, criminal intimidation by an anonymous communication etc. and are conducting further investigations .