Dimapur lynching: Gauhati HC directs CBI probe

Six months after the gruesome lynching of a rape accused in Nagaland's commercial town Dimapur, the Gauhati High Court on Monday directed the CBI to conduct an inquiry into the incident.

A division bench comprising Chief Justice (acting) K. Sreedhar Rao and Justice P.K. Saikia directed the CBI to investigate into the killing and also asked the central agency to submit a report in six months, advocate and civil rights activist Bhaskar Dev Konwar said.

On March 5, an irate mob broke into the Dimapur Central Jail and dragged out Syed Sarif Khan, who was accused of raping a 20-year-old Naga girl.

The mob then beat him up and paraded him naked in public till he died. The mob then hung his body in the front railings of the clock tower in the heart of Dimapur.

After the incident, a man named Rajeeb Kalita filed a PIL demanding a CBI investigation into the case.

Advocate Konwar, appearing for the petitioner, said an investigation by the CBI was necessary to determine the culpability of officials of the Nagaland government who failed to protect an undertrial prisoner.

Dimapur remained tense for many days after the incident, forcing the Nagaland government to suspend some police and jail officials and order a judicial probe into the incident.

Nagaland Police had also formed a special investigation team (SIT) to probe the incident, leading to the arrest of 58 people for their involvement in the crime.