Court orders protection for four key witnesses

GUWAHATI: A court in Assam’s Nagaon district has ordered protection for four key witnesses to the killings of 30-year-old businessman Abhijit Nath and his musician friend Nilotpal Das, 29, by a mob in Karbi Anglong in June 2018, after two of them turned hostile during the trial in the case.

The two men who had driven to Kanthe Langshu, a picnic spot in Karbi Anglong district, were lynched by a mob on suspicion of being child lifters. Police later arrested as many as 47 suspects and apprehended a juvenile in this connection.

In an order on Tuesday, district and sessions judge in Nagaon Rita Kar said the confidentiality of the protection proceedings should be strictly maintained under Section 13 of the Witness Protection Scheme, 2018 and fixed November 2 as the next date of hearing. She has asked the police to “initiate the process” to provide the witnesses protection.

She issued the order on an application filed by a police officer, who sought relocation of the four key witnesses to a safer place for three months and holding an in-camera trial, citing threats to their lives.

Most of the 48 suspects and the key witnesses belong to Panjuri Kachari Gaon, where the incident took place. According to the charge sheet, there are 71 prosecution witnesses, of which three have turned hostile.

On August 6, Gopal Chandra Das and Ajit Kumar Nath, the parents of the two victims, in a complaint said that four persons (two lawyers, a local leader and a village defence party secretary) were allegedly threatening the witnesses, and instigating family members of the suspects against them.