Tension flared across parts of Assam’s Sribhumi district on Friday after the body of a 52-year-old local Bharatiya Janata Party booth president, missing for over two days, was pulled from a pond near the Assam-Tripura interstate border. The victim, identified as Bikash Ranjan Dhar from Chagalmowa village, had disappeared on the evening of August 12 after stepping out on his motorcycle.
Investigators tracked his last known mobile tower locations to the Jogichhara area, where search teams eventually found his body submerged in water. Police swiftly rounded up six people for questioning, with initial interrogations revealing that Dhar was ambushed and fatally struck with a machete over what investigators suspect was a bitter personal rivalry.
The case took a violent turn late Thursday night when one of the primary suspects made a desperate bid to break out of police custody. According to Sribhumi Additional Superintendent of Police (Crime) Trinayan Bhuyan, the accused attacked an escorting constable with a sharp weapon during on-site evidence recovery, forcing officers to open fire in self-defence.
The suspect was shot in the left leg, subdued on the spot, and admitted to a local hospital under armed guard. Investigators confirmed that out of the six people picked up so far, two key suspects—aged 24 and 30—played a direct role in carrying out the murder. Word of Dhar’s death triggered swift fury on the ground, with angry crowds spilling into the streets across Chagalmowa, Bazaricherra, and nearby border pockets.
What began as spontaneous protests quickly spiralled into sporadic rioting, leading to arson attacks that damaged several local shops and commercial establishments. With tensions running high, the district administration stepped in to clamp down on the unrest, imposing prohibitory orders under Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) and flooding sensitive pockets with armed police personnel to prevent any further escalation.