Assam man killed in police firing after machete attack on girl who rejected him

GUWAHATI: A man in his early twenties, accused of attacking a 17-year-old girl and her cousin with a machete after she rejected his love proposal, was killed in police firing on Monday in Assam’s Nalbari.

Police officers said the accused, Roz Ali alias Ashik Ali, snatched a self-loading rifle from a policeman and opened fire on the police team, while being taken to recover the murder weapon.

“He fired four rounds at our team and it hit our vehicles. In retaliatory firing, one bullet hit his chest,” Nalbari SSP Bibekananda Das said. Ali was rushed to hospital, where doctors pronounced him dead on arrival.

Ali attacked the girl, a Class 11 student Mridumudra Deka, and her 20-year-old cousin Madhurjya Barman, a functionary of All Assam Students’ Union’s (Aasu) regional unit, in Gangapur village when the two were returning home on a two wheeler from Nalbari town after purchasing books, police officers said.

The injured duo were rushed to Nalbari Medical College and Hospital, where doctors pronounced Madhurjya Barman dead, while Mridumudra was referred to Gauhati Medical College and Hospital, and was reported to be critical. She sustained multiple injuries, including in head, neck and chest.

Police sources called it a case of spurned love. “As per information, Ali had proposed to her some time back. Aggrieved at being rejected, Ali had threatened to kill her in front of her parents.
Police said they received a tip-off that Ali was hiding at an interior ‘char’ (sand bars) in Mukalmua and a team went there to arrest him.

Aasu president Utpal Sarma has demanded a thorough investigation in the case.