Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal on Sunday reviewed the law and order situation with top police and civil administration official in the aftermath of the lynching of two youths in Karbi Anglong district and asked police to go all out against the rumour mongers, which led to the incident on Friday.
The Assam Police have already arrested 16 people for their alleged involvement in lynching the two youths at a village under Dokmoka police station on late Friday evening on mere suspicion that they were child snatchers.
The Chief Minister also held a threadbare discussion on all aspects of law and order in the state and asked Assam DGP Kuladhar Saikia to ensure that the police force maintain constant vigilance on all activities and put spanner on any canards likely to vitiate public order and peace in the State.
Referring to the killing of two, he maintained that the culprits should be brought to book and no leniency should be exhibited in dealing with the incident. The Chief Minister further asked the police to be on their toes to defeat any evil agenda of rumour and trouble mongers.
later Assam DGP Kuladhar Saikia and Chief Secretary TY Das addressed a joint press conference and said that while 15 people have been arrested for their involvement in the crime, one more person was arrested for posting fake information about the incident on social media around same time when the mob was lynching the two youths.
“While 15 of them have been arrested for their involvement in killing the youths, one person was arrested for posting objectionable and fake information on the social networking site while the mob fury was on on Friday,” said Assam DGP Kuladhar Saikia. He said that police have identified more persons involved in the crime and search is on to nab them.
Narrating on the incident on Friday, the DGP said that the two youth seemed to have become victim of some rumour. “There was a rumour about sopadhara or child snatchers being circulated by some rumour mongers in the village. The villagers were scared about the child snatchers and seeing the two youth they mistook them to be child snatchers and attacked,” said the DGP while adding that police are also trying to find out if there is any other angle to the incident.
“Our additional DGP Mukesh Agarwal is camping in Karbi Anglong and monitoring the situation closely. We have instructed to the police in all districts to take action against those who are spreading these rumours,” he said .
Saikia further informed that police have also instituted a special team headed by Additional DGP Harmeet Singh to strengthen cyber patrolling across the State.