india

Updated: Oct 03, 2019 00:01 IST

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 to the police 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. The complaint even cited a meeting in the village where witnesses were called.

“We found the allegations to be true,” said Gaurav Upadhyay, superintendent of police, Karbi Anglong. “On the basis of our investigation, we have named four persons in our application before the court and have sought witness protection.”

According to the charge sheet filed in September 2018, Abhijit Nath and Nilotpal Das were waylaid by a mob in Panjuri Kachari Gaon in Karbi Anglong district on June 8, 2018, and brutally beaten up on suspicion of being child abductors. The police recovered several bamboo sticks and a 10-kg stone with blood stains on them.

The whole incident was even captured on video by the locals.

According to the police, in April key witness Numal Basumatary, who had identified 10 suspects in the court, changed his statement during trial, claiming he was tutored and threatened by the police.

In June this year, Ujjal Mech, who had identified 11 suspects in front of a magistrate last year, also changed his statement. Subsequently, Dipendra Rongpi, another witness, also turned hostile, a police officer involved in the investigations said, requesting anonymity.

Numal Basumatary’s two brothers — Pantheng Basumatary and Biju Basumatary — are among the suspects. Mech’s father-in-law and brother-in-law are in jail for their alleged role in the crime.

“It takes a lot of pain in cross examining these witnesses and establishing the fact that the witnesses in order to help their co-villagers and relatives have taken a contradictory stand to their earlier statement to the magistrate,” said Ziaur Kamar, the special public prosecutor in the case.

Manas Sarania, the defence counsel, alleged the police were trying to hide their own failures by accusing lawyers and others of influencing the witnesses. “The police is trying to frame many people and many of the people named as accused are innocent,” he said.

Nilotpal’s father, Gopal Chandra Das, a retired government employee, said the prosecutors were worried that witnesses were turning hostile and others, who are yet to be examined, may also follow suit because of the threats.