A 30-year-old Guwahati man accused of beheading his wife and storing her severed head in a refrigerator died after he allegedly attacked police personnel escorting him from a hospital in an escape bid, jumped off a moving vehicle and fell into a gorge, an officer said on Monday.
Jumped from police vehicle
Goswami’s death is the latest custodial death reported in Assam. His body has been sent for postmortem. A death in police custody is treated as a custodial death regardless of its cause, including an escape attempt or natural causes, and warrants a magisterial inquiry. The Supreme Court directed the commission to reconsider the matter and conduct the probe, including allegations of injuries from illegal police action, popularly known as encounters.
Records showed Goswami was brought to the hospital at 2:41am and declared dead on arrival. It asked the AHRC to approach the matter with sensitivity and directed the Assam government to cooperate fully and remove any institutional barriers.Plea alleged 171 fake encounters In January 2023, the high court said people were killed and injured in police action, but the state government had registered first information reports to probe them. Jwadder’s petition said 54 people were killed and 140 injured in police action.
His seven-day police remand was due to end on Monday, when police were to produce him before the court.
Anjad Brahma, the officer-in-charge of Hatigaon Police Station, where Ramanuj Goswami was being taken, said the incident took place in the early hours of Monday. Doctors said he had severe head injuries. Goswami’s family refused to accept his body, claiming his death was not accidental but a so-called “encounter” killing. The family said it had been preparing for the post-death rituals of Goswami’s wife, Riya Talukdar, but cancelled them after learning of his death. The rituals cannot be continued after his death under Hindu customs, according to the family.
