Assam: CID inquiry reveals wrong person killed in police ‘encounter’

A relative of the deceased told television channels that Dimbeswar Machahary was not a criminal and was a small farmer in Jengrengpara village in the Baksa district

An inquiry by CID in Assam revealed that a man killed by police during an “encounter” in Udalguri district last month was Dimbeswar Machahary, a resident of neighboring Baksa district and not Kenaram Boro, a former NDFB militant as claimed by the police earlier.

Police, however, maintained that Dimbeswar Machahary was also a criminal and was wanted in robbery cases registered with police in Rangiya in Kamrup and at Gobardhana in Barpeta district.

A relative of the deceased told television channels that Machahary was not a criminal and was a small farmer in Jengrengpara village in the Baksa district.

A statement issued by the state police on Saturday night said that DNA analysis of the body and the CID inquiry established that the deceased was Machahary although the body was earlier identified as that of Boro.

The CID inquiry was ordered by Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on March 2 after confusion prevailed over the identity of the deceased and the Opposition Congress called it “an extrajudicial killing.”

The statement said the inquiry established that it was a case of mistaken identity. Further inquiry into the firing incident has also been transferred to the CID, said the statement.

The state police said that based on specific information about a robbery attempt, an ambush was laid by police on February 24 at Dhansirikhuti Daifang village in Udalguri district in North Assam.

At around 10.30 am, two individuals came in a motorcycle and one of them opened fire at the police team when being stopped. Two policemen, a constable, and a sub-inspector were injured in the attack and one accused died in retaliatory firing by police. Police said the last rites of the accused were subsequently performed at Natun Panbari village in the district on the same evening after his mother and brother identified the body as that of Kenaram Boro.

Police said Kenaram was a former NDFB militant and was wanted in several robbery cases in the district. But the next morning, family members of Dimbeswar Machahary came to the office of SP, Udalguri claiming that the body was that of Mauchahary and not Kenaram Boro. The family submitted an application with a request for the exhumation of body for DNA examination. The body was exhumed and a DNA analysis was conducted during the CID inquiry.