At least 11 people were killed and 20 others were seriously injured when a high voltage wire hit by stray bullets fell on demonstrators, as police fired in the air to disperse them at Pangeree in Tinsukia district of Assam on Monday.
Police said the incident took place when a large number of protestors armed with machetes and sticks pelted stones at Pangeree Police Station in Tinsukia district and tried to gherao it. The protesters were demanding that those arrested in connection with the killing of two persons in the area three days ago be handed over to them, police said.
The protestors threw stones and broke glass panes of the police station. Police then fired in the air to control the mob, and the bullets hit an overhead high-tension electric wire, causing it to fall on the demonstrators.
Nine of them died on the spot and one died at Tinsukia Civil Hospital. Another person died on way to Assam Medical College Hospital in neighbouring Dibrugarh district. Senior district civil and police officials, along with central paramilitary forces and police reinforcements, have rushed to the spot.
The officials were holding meetings with the protestors to neutralise the situation, the police said.
Three days ago, a man, his son, and daughter-in-law were abducted by unidentified persons at Pangeree area – while the son escaped from their kidnappers, the bodies of the two others were recovered later, police said. Police had arrested five persons in this connection and the mob had demanded that they be handed over to them for punishment.
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)