Eight individuals were arrested today for allegedly lynching a man from Meghalaya, Niksamseng Ch Marak, in a drug rehabilitation centre in Assam’s Goalpara.
Marak had died on July 4 and, initially, his death was attributed to suicide, though family members strongly denied this.
According to initial information, three youths were detained by Krishnai Police in possession of drugs on July 2. Subsequently, the three were taken to a rehab centre, New Life Foundation, in Goalpara. The three were identified as Noor Salim Ahmed, Rakesh Das and Niksamseng Marak.
Marak’s sibling Jagamchi said in a Facebook post that the deceased had been receiving psychiatric treatment for a year and a half. Jagamchi added that, at first, Marak’s family were told that he had killed himself by hanging but the story was changed later, claiming that he had repeatedly banged his head against a wall, leading to his death.
However, when the family took possession of the body on July 5, they noted that there were no injuries to the head. Instead, Marak had severe bruises to his chin, hips, legs, a deep knife wound to his face and several burns. This indicated to the family that Marak “was brutally beaten, stabbed and tortured to death inside the rehab centre.”
News reports from Assam state that CCTV footage from inside the centre revealed that staff and inmates beat the Meghalaya youth to death with rods.
Assam police launched an investigation after receiving a formal complaint from Marak’s family, with the assistance of the Meghalaya authorities.
Thereafter, eight individuals were arrested on suspicion of the murder. Six of them have been transferred to jail. These were identified as Pranjyoti Nath, Hanif Ali, Jintu Chakraborty, Mohsen Khan, Kunal Das and Dhanmoina Banikya, according to local media reports.
Jagamchi also claimed in the Facebook post that New Life Foundation and its owner/manager do not have the requisite paperwork to function as a rehab centre or psychiatric/psychological qualifications.
