Bulldozers raze house of 1 of 3 accused in Assam activist’s suicide

GUWAHATI/DIBRUGARH : Authorities in Assam brought out bulldozers on Tuesday in Dibrugarh town to demolish an “illegally constructed” twostorey house of one of the three suspects accused of abetting the suicide of an animal rights activist on July 7.

Vineet Bagaria, the 32-year-old co-founder of Animal Welfare People, had hanged himself to death at his home in Dibrugarh. Before killing himself, he recorded a video on his cellphone and named three men —Baidullah Khan, Sanjay Sharma and Nishant Sharma— of torturing him and forcing him to take the extreme step.

Baidullah’s house was demolished Tuesday. He and Nishant were arrested at Lumding railway station, nearly 350km from Dibrugarh, on July 9. Sanjay is on the run.
This was the second instance in two months of authorities bulldozing houses of people accused of criminal offences. The houses of five members of a mob that burned down Batadroba police station in Nagaon district were razed to the ground on May 22. Officials said the houses were built on “encroached government land”.
Assam special DGP GP Singh said, “Khan’s building was illegally built and there was no response to the notice issued on July 8. The district administration today conducted the eviction drive. ”