TURA | July 22, 2019:

A mob of over 400 people attacked a local police station in Mahendraganj after rumours of a mentally challenged man being shot dead by police fuelled up on Monday morning.

The situation worsen up when the angry mob tried to set the police station on fire and a fire tenderer causing damage to many government vehicles, the agitated mob had dispersed after police fired a few rounds in the air.

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The incident took place at about 11 AM this morning after which Sec 144 CrPC has been imposed on the Bangladesh border areas within South West Garo Hills (SWGH).

Incidentally the mob attack today was after another case that took place last evening yesterday, July 21.

According to information received, Mahendraganj police received a desperate call from residents about a mentally challenged, middle aged man wielding a ‘dao’ and trying to attack people along the PWD road.

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When the police team reached the site, the man tried to attack the police as well. While attempting to evade the attack a police battalion constable fell into the flood waters by the side of the road. As he was trying to get up the mentally challenged man snatched his Insas rifle and began pointing the gun towards the rest of the police team.

When he refused to drop the gun a sub-inspector fired a shot in the air from his service pistol but instead of letting go of the automatic rifle the man ran away with the weapon into the darkness and has not been found. The place of the incident allegedly does not have electricity.

Police searched for the man throughout the night in an effort to recover the gun but were futile. While the search was on, rumours of the mentally challenged man being killed by the police began doing the rounds as a round had been fired by them. The rumour was also that the man was killed and his body hidden.

This morning around 400 people gheraoed the Mahendraganj PS looking for the body of the man and refused to believe that no such incident occurred despite repeated attempts at reasoning with them.

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The angry mob began pelting stones and damaged a parked fire tender truck and the windows of the station. A circle Inspector, C D Shira, who was at the site, was injured in the stone pelting. Many cars parked within the PS were also damaged by the mob.

Police initially used tear gas to disperse the crowd but it made no headway. However when the mob tried to burn down the fire tenderer, police resorted to blank firing after which the crowd quickly dissipated.

“The situation is now under control with and we have brought in reinforcements. We are still searching for the man who took away the police rifle. All this happened because of rumours,” said Rithuraj Ravi, the superintendent of police, WGH, who is also camping at Mahendraganj.