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Shankar Das from village Mahadebpur part IV of Khelma Gaon Panchayat, under Katigorah
Police Station in the district Cachar of Assam, was the only earning member of his family.
His family was comprised of 60-year-old father Churamani Das, his wife Somarani Das and
their sons Jiten Das aged 5, Lob Das and Kush Das aged 2 years, the twins.
According to Somarani Das, the widow of the deceased, her husband used to get up very
early in the morning at 3;30 am everyday, and before 6 am he would start for the work place
on foot, which is almost 15 kilometers from their house. He would return home after 8 pm.
She stated that he worked hard and earned approximately Rs 200/- daily. She added that on
10 December, 2010 Shankar started for work place at 6 am.
Co-workers and neighbours of the deceased Gopal Chandra Das, Jawharlal Das and others,
the chunk of earth bruised the left side of Shankar’s head, blood gushed out through his nose
and some white thick liquid came out through his ears. His forehead was also badly injured.
He was rushed to the nearby Community Health Centre where he was declared death. The
persons accompanied Shankar to the CHC were Pradip Das, Bidhu Das and Pranab Das.
When contacted, the officer-in-charge of the CHC Mr. Taffazzul Hussain Choudhury stated
that he did not keep any record of the death as he was asked not to do so by influential
persons.
According to his co-workers, the deceased was hired by, and worked under, Mr. Subodh
Ghosh, an influential local stone mafia.
Somarani Das stated that she was informed of the incident at around 10 am and had been told
that her husband was injured badly. She was awestruck and did not know what to do. She
further stated at 10 pm the dead body was brought home and cremated in no time as per the
religious rites. According to her, many unknown persons were insisting for funeral at the
earliest.
62-year-old father of the deceased Churamani Das told the same things. He added that he was
not in a position to take decision against the mob gathered and he had no knowledge about
post mortem or such legal procedures. He even could not mark who were insisting on a
hurried funeral. When asked he told that no administrative authorities or forest officers
visited their house.
It is apparent that soon after the incident the local stone mafia got alert and did every thing to
hush up the case. The nexus among stone mafia, forest officials and local police worked it
perfectly.