GUWAHATI: Adding more suspense to the mysterious death of woman police sub-inspector (SI) Junmoni Rabha at Sarubhagia village in central Assam’s Nagaon district on Tuesday, a police informant from Lakhimpur has alleged that it was a premeditated murder and not a road accident.
“It was neither an accident nor a suicide but a premeditated murder,” Hasina Begum told media on May 17.
Junmoni, who was in charge of the Morikolong police outpost, died in a road accident on National Highway 37 in the wee hours of Tuesday.
The vehicle in which Junmoni was travelling reportedly collided with an oncoming container truck bearing registration No UP78UT4518 near Sarubhagia village on National Highway 37.
The vehicle was extensively damaged due to the impact of the accident.
Hasina Begum was the person who gave a clue to SI Junmoni Rabha about the fake gold racket in the state.
“Junmoni was killed and SI Sanjib Bora, in charge of the Naobaicha police outpost, was involved in the whole incident. SI Bora has demanded Rs 6 lakh from Junmoni to settle the police complaint lodged against her by an arrested accused of the fake gold case,” Hasina Begum told media on Wednesday.
According to information, SI Junmoni Rabha accompanied by a police team conducted a raid at a house at Naoboicha in Lakhimpur district on May 6 and recovered a consignment of fake Indian currency note (FICN) to the tune of Rs 2.25 lakh from a gang.
“The prime accused were from Lakhimpur district and the place of occurrence was Samuguri of case. But it was alleged that Junmoni caught the prime accused Ajgar Ali but released him in exchange for a bribe of Rs 6 lakh,” sources here said.
“Later, the accused lodged an FIR against SI Junmoni Raabha following which North Lakhimpur police station registered a case No 183/2023 under section 120-B, 395,397,342,387 in which Junmoni was one of the accused,” they said.
Junmoni was asked to leave for Naoiboicha to investigate the case by a senior police official of the district, who has been on leave for some days now. Moreover, the superintendent of police of Nagaon was also not aware of her raid at Naoibioicha, sources here said.
As the case was registered on the night of May 15, police in Nagaon conducted a raid at the official residence of Junmoni and recovered Rs 1 lakh. She was also interrogated by a senior police official in this regard.
It was believed that Junmoni was to be arrested by Lakhimpur police on the next day i.e. on May 16. However, the tragic incident took place in the wee hours of May 16.
According to an eyewitness account, Junmoni’s Spresso car was stationary at the moment of the accident and was parked at the left side of the national highway.
“I saw the car parked on the left side of the highway and suddenly a truck coming from the opposite side hit it and crashed the car. I also saw a man wearing black jeans getting down from the car immediately after the incident,” said Pradip Das, a driver, who hails from Bokakhat.
Das was coming from Guwahati and reached the spot at the time of the incident.
“I was waiting there some minutes after the accident. But a police officer from Jakhalabandha asked me to leave the place immediately and I left the spot,” Das added.
In another development, Additional SP of Lakhimpur district, Runa Neog, whose name also came up for threatening Junmoni, was transferred and posted as a staff officer, Village Defence Organisation, Guwahati.
Junmoni’s mother Sumitra Rabha has already accused police top brass of murdering her daughter.
“The SP and DSP all are involved in it and Junmoni might have come to know about their malicious intent, that is why they killed her,” Junmoni’s weeping mother said.
“The police also threatened me not to speak of media,” Junmoni’s mother said.
She was in media headlines in the last year for various controversies. She was also arrested in connection with a corruption case in which her fiancé deposited bribe money into her personal account. Later, she was granted bail by Lakhimpour District and Session Judge.
Junmoni’s death has raised several questions whether it was murder, suicide or just an accident that turned fatal.
Assam DGP GP Singh has already handed over the case registered against Junmoni in Lakhimpur police station to Criminal Investigation Department (CID).
“Ref death of SI Junmoni Rabha on May 16- FIR No 183/2023 was registered on May 15 at North Lakhimpur PS under section 120-B, 395,397,342,387 in which the name of Junmoni Rabha was mentioned as an accused. Lakhimpur Police and Nagaon Police took lawful action under the registration of crime. In the meantime, in the wee hours of May 16, information was received about the death of SI Junmoni Rabha in a road accident. In wake of the request of a fair probe from various sections of society into FIR No 183/2023 and the death of SI Junmoni Rabha, it has been decided to transfer the investigation to CID Assam,” Singh said in a Facebook post on Tuesday.
A joint team of CID, Nagaon Sadar Police Station, Morikolong police outpost and Jaakhalaabandha police outpost visited the spot to take stock of the situation on Wednesday.
Sources said that the team went to Morikolong police outpost and thereafter went to Nagaon Sadar Police Station following which the team went to the spot of the incident near Sorubhogia under Jakhalabandha police station and examined all aspects of the accident.
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The CID team subsequently went to Jakhalabandha Police Station where the team interacted with the officials in connection with the tragic incident.
“The case has been already handed over to CID and hence she would not say anything in this regard,” Nagaon Superintendent of Police Leena Doley said.
Meanwhile, police have identified the driver of the truck as Sumit Kumar alias Anuj who hails from Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh. However, he is still absconding.
Also Read | Controversial Assam policewoman killed in car collision
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