Three Alleged Cattle Smugglers Lynched in Assam Tea Estate

Three people, suspected to be cattle thieves, were lynched by a mob in a tea estate in the border district of Karimganj in Assam.

According to police sources, seven people alleged to be cattle smugglers entered the house of area panchayat secretary Raju Telenga in Baburighat Tea Estate. Alarmed, the workers of the tea garden rounded up.

In the chaos, four of them managed to escape, but the remaining three were physically assaulted by the villagers and succumbed to their injuries at the spot of the lynching.

Villagers said that they were cattle thieves from across the border and had cuts and scratches from the barbed border fence. They were also carrying several items that hinted they were Bangladeshis, they said. The New Indian Express reported that the police recovered fence-cutters, rope, bag, wires and biscuits and bread, manufactured in Bangladesh. The bodies have been retrieved and a process is on to hand those to Bangladeshi authorities through the Border Security Force, the TNIE reported.

Police investigation is currently underway. Meanwhile, the situation at the garden seems to be tense.

Cattle thefts are very common and a major concern of the people of the region.