Cachar Horror: Man Beaten and Allegedly Thrown Into Barak River Over Land Dispute

A man went missing after he was allegedly assaulted and thrown into the Barak River by a group of people from a launch at the Gangapur-Nagatilla ferry ghat in Assam’s Cachar district on Thursday morning (12 November). His family suspects that he was murdered following a long-standing land dispute with some of his neighbours.

The missing man has been identified as Afaz Uddin Mazumder, a resident of Niairgram in Cachar. According to his family, he had been involved in a prolonged dispute with his neighbours, including Abdul Sukkur Mazumder, his two sons Mitu Mazumder and Ritu Mazumder, and their relative Sahil Laskar.

Speaking about the incident, Afaz’s cousin said, “He is my cousin, my paternal uncle’s son. He had some issues with a few of his neighbours.” He alleged that Abdul Sukkur Mazumder had earlier attacked their house, damaged the boundary, assaulted Afaz, broken his boat, cut down trees and disrupted his water supply.

The cousin further alleged that Afaz had fled to save his life following these incidents. An FIR was reportedly filed on 31 July. He also claimed that a few days ago, the accused persons had assaulted Afaz’s son and threatened to kill his father.

According to the family, Afaz was allegedly assaulted near the ferry ghat on Thursday as well. They claimed that some of the people named in the earlier FIR were among those involved in the assault.

In an attempt to escape, Afaz reportedly ran towards a launch at the Gangapur-Nagatilla ferry ghat. However, according to the family’s allegations, a group of around 9 to 10 people armed with sharp weapons and sticks boarded the vessel and attacked him. He was allegedly struck on the head and thrown into the Barak River.

Eyewitnesses reportedly stated that Afaz managed to swim for some distance after falling into the river but eventually went underwater in the middle of the river. He has remained missing since then.

Following the incident, police reached the spot and the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) launched a search operation to trace him. The search operation was underway at the time of filing this report.

As per the family was murdered and thrown into the river over the land dispute. However, his death has not yet been officially confirmed, and the allegations are yet to be established through an investigation.