TURA:
Less than a week after a trader from Dhubri was murdered for ransom in cold blood in Damal Asim area of West Garo Hills, another trader from Goalpara district of the same state has been murdered and his body dumped in an abandoned coal mine in remote Jadi area of South Garo Hills.
Fifty year old Sudangshu Das of Krishnai, Goalpara district of Assam, had gone to Jadigittim area of Nangalbibra in the coal ricjh region of South Garo Hills to purchase the highly sought after arecanut cash crop of Garo Hills.
He went missing on February 17th near the Coal India complex in Jadi, Nangalbibra and was last spotted with a local from the area identified as Manthang N Marak.
During questioning, the suspect claimed that the trader was handed over to a group of persons who wanted to extort ransom from him. However, during investigation he was found trying to mislead the police teams and further investigation led to his confession that the abduction was perpetrated by none other than himself.
He revealed that an altercation took place over the demand for money and he murdered the trader the same day and dumped his body into a 200 feet deep abandoned coal mine in the coal India jungle at Eraning in Jadi itself.
The decomposed body of the trader was retrieved on February 21st with the use of mechanical cranes that were taken down the mine shaft.
Last week, another arecanut trader travelling to a village in Damal Asim area of Dadenggre in West Garo Hills to purchase arecanut plantation crop was waylaid by three criminals who murdered him after failing to get ransom. The killers have since been arrested.