Saikia also referred to rumours that Gogoi was a contract killer allegedly used as a front by an influential person to take over the hotel business from its owners.
He claimed that Gogoi had wanted to speak to the media while in custody but was prevented from doing so by the police. His death, Saikia said, meant that several aspects of the case might never come to light.
Meanwhile, CRPF Director General G P Singh, who formerly served as Assam’s director general of police, drew attention to the incident through a cryptic social media post invoking Newton’s third law of motion.
“The relevance of Newton’s third law remains undiminished in Assam. Keep it up @assampolice,” Singh wrote, referring to the principle that every action has an equal and opposite reaction.
He also shared a post he had made on 1 December 2021, stating: “For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction – Newton’s Third Law.”
Singh had made the earlier post when he was Assam’s special DGP (law and order), on the day the prime accused in the lynching of a student leader in Jorhat was killed while allegedly attempting to escape from police custody.
The latest incident has brought renewed attention to police firing and alleged extra-judicial killings in Assam.
According to data presented in the Assam Assembly by Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, who also holds the Home portfolio, at least 72 people were killed and more than 220 injured in police action in the state between 10 May 2021 and 23 February 2025.
The data showed that magisterial inquiries had not been conducted in 81 incidents, while investigations had been carried out in 175 cases. The government said police cases were registered in each incident under relevant laws and in accordance with National Human Rights Commission guidelines.
A public interest litigation alleging fake encounters by Assam Police was filed in the Supreme Court in 2023 by advocate Arif Md Yeasin Jwadder, after the Gauhati High Court dismissed his petition on the issue.
The petitioner sought an independent investigation into 171 alleged fake encounters between May 2021 and August 2022, in which 56 people were killed, including four in custody, and 145 were injured.
In May 2025, the Supreme Court directed the Assam Human Rights Commission to conduct inquiries into all 171 incidents.
About the Author
