Assam: No trace of Cachar man who went missing in Gujarat 7 years ago

SILCHAR: The family of an Assam man who went missing in Gujarat around seven years ago has again appealed to the police to help find him.  

The missing person, Niranjan Das, hails from Deshabandhu Nagar, Thaligram under the Udharbond police station in south Assam’s Cachar district.

His family has lodged three FIRs since he went missing, but the police failed to find him.

Talking to reporters on Saturday, Niranjan’s parents: Monoranjan Das (father) and Surobala Das (mother) said Sundan Das, a man from the same village took their younger son (Niranjan) to Gujarat around seven years ago after convincing him that he would get the job of a labourer and earn a lot of money. Sundan also took a couple of other youths of the area with him to Gujarat, they alleged.

They said Sundan, after reaching Gujarat, handed over Niranjan (whose age was 18 years at that time) and the other youths to a man named Mohanlal Das, who is from Deshabandhu Nagar and settled in Gujarat.

After around three months, Sundan and the other youths (except Niranjan) returned to their houses, but Niranjan did not return. When they (Niranjan’s parents) asked Sundan and the others about Niranjan, they did not give any response, they alleged.

They said an FIR was lodged with the Udharbond police station against Sundan after a few days, but the police “did not show much interest in the matter”. Despite lodging the FIR, Sundan was not summoned even once by the police, they alleged.

They said another FIR was lodged against Sundan in July 2021. However, a few residents, including a local village defence party member, intervened in the matter and called for a meeting on the premises of the Udharbond police station after a few days of lodging the FIR.

In the meeting, the locals somehow proved that Sundan had no connection with Niranjan’s missing incident and convinced Surobala (Niranjan’s mother) to withdraw the FIR by taking her thumb impression on a paper, they alleged.

They said the third FIR was lodged in March this year against Sundan, but the police, like earlier, did not take any action. The police did not grill Sundan or make any efforts to recover Niranjan, they alleged.

Further, they appealed to Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma to take up the matter with the Gujarat government and find out their son, without whom their life has been like a “hell” over the years.

Udharbond BJP MLA Mihir Kanti Shome told EastMojo on Sunday that he wasn’t aware of the matter.

“The family members (of the missing person) have not contacted me. If I get the case details, I will definitely try and help the family,” Shome said.

Udharbond police station’s officer-in-charge, Pradip Haloi, did not respond to phone calls. Cachar superintendent of police Ramandeep Kaur was not available for comments.

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