AASU leader’s murder sparks outrage, accused shot dead in encounter

way2barak, June 2: A day after he was accused of attacking a young girl and killing her cousin, the youth was killed by the police in Nalbari on Monday afternoon.

District officials said Ashik Ali alias Roz was shot dead after he allegedly tried to snatch the service rifle of a policeman and flee. The incident happened on a sandbar, near Mukalmua town.

Nalbari’s Superintendent of Police, Bibekananda Das, said his team was told that the youth had fled to a sandbar on Sunday after attacking an 18-year-old girl and her 19-year-old cousin, Madhurjya Barman, with a sharp weapon.

The two teenagers, travelling on a scooter, were attacked about 300 metres from the girl’s home. While Barman, a leader of the local unit of the All Assam Students’ Union (AASU), was declared dead at the Nalbari Medical College and Hospital, the girl is undergoing treatment for serious injuries at the more advanced Gauhati Medical College and Hospital.

“We found the murder weapon (a machete) and were taking him away when he snatched a self-loading rifle from one of our men and fired four rounds. The police retaliated, and a bullet hit his chest,” Mr. Das said.

Ali was rushed to a local hospital, where he was declared dead.

The girl’s mother said Ali had been stalking her daughter, a Class 12 student, and was harassing the family to agree to a marriage. “He promised not to bother her again after we threatened to lodge a police complaint. We never imagined he would attack her, killing Madhurjya in the process,” she said.