Man allegedly murdered in a land dispute incident in Hailakandi, 3 more severely injured

February 9: An unfortunate incident of murder took place in Hailakandi centering on an issue of land dispute. Local sources have informed that Pratap Roy, a resident of Jakirtal Village in Mohanpur under Algapur Police Station in Hailakandi possessed 48 bighas of land. Another Babui Ali of the same village wanted to purchase tha land of Pratap Roy. In this connection, Babui Ali made a deal of purchase with Pratap Roy and gave him an advance amount of Rs. 11 lakh in 2009.

As per the source, after that, 12 years have passed, but Babui Ali did not communicate with Pratap Roy any further and also made no further payment of the pending amount. However, on Sunday (9 February), Babui Ali agreed to pay the balance amount towards purchase of the land. As such, a meeting was convened at a school in their village for discussing and sorting out this issue.

Local people belonging to both the communities came to this meeting as they thought that the long pending issue of land dispute between Babui Ali and Pratap Roy would be solved. In this meeting, Pratap Roy was accompanied by his nephew Sanjoy Sarkar, a resident of Hailakandi Bazar, Abhijit Sharma of Bhatirkopo Part III, Sunny Roy, Probhath Roy among others.

Meanwhile, as Babui Ali was not paying the balance amount for purchasing the land since a long period of time, so another person Rahim Uddin of Bahadurpur village also expressed his desire to purchase the land and came to the meeting along with some of his supporters.

However, the moment the meeting started, there began alteration of words between the two parties. All of a sudden, from nowhere a team of around 9 persons attacked Pratap Roy and those who came along with him. Sources revealed that they were attacked with sharp weapons and sticks. As a result, Sunny Roy, Pratap Roy, Probhath Roy and Abhijit Sharma were seriously injured. Local people who were present at that meeting said that the entire incident seems to be pre-planned. Those who came to the meeting with Pratap Roy alleged that it was Babui Ali who hit Abhijit with a sharp weapon. As a result, 28 year old Abhijit Sharma Majumdar (Bhola) died on the spot.

Meanwhile, it was learnt that the accused Babui Ali ran away from the spot immediately after the incident. On being informed, OC of Algapur Police Station reached the spot with a huge police force. As per sources, police has arrested Rahim Uddin Laskar from Bahadurpur from the spot of murder. Whereas, the body of the deceased Abhijit Sharma Majumdar (Bhola) was sent to Silchar Medical College and Hospital (SMCH) for autospy. The other 3 injured were were also admitted to SMCH. Abhijit was an employee of Hailakandi Development Block and is survived by his wife and a son.

Meanwhile, the incident of murder of a youth in an incident of land dispute sent waves of horror in the entire area. The district police administration also acted very fast and Police Super of Hailakandi, Pabindra Kumar Nath, Additional Police Super Barun Purkayastha, DSP Nayanmani Baraman went to the spot. In the evening, Dilip Kumar Dey, DIG of Southern Assam Range also went there from Silchar. Though tension prevailed there after the incident, but police forces brought the entire situation under control.

Police Super of Hailakandi, Pabindra Kumar Nath informed in the evening that 2 persons were arrested in connection with the untoward incident of murder. Out of the two, the name of one is known to be Babui Ali, while the name of the other is still unknown. He assured that the entire situation is under control and police is doing its investigation. Police is hopeful of nabbing the culprits soon.

As a result of this incident of murder, an atmosphere of tension prevailed in Hailakandi town also on Sunday evening. As per the last information received at the time of filing this report, a group of agitated youth tried to stop some vehicles at Kalibari area of Hailakandi town, but the activeness of the police foiled the attempts. Police had to resort to light lathi-charge. However, as of now, the situation is under control.