Two Assam Cops Held in Rs 14 Lakh Extortion; Prime Accused SI Absconding

Two Assam Police personnel have been arrested in connection with an extortion case in Karimganj district, in which a businessman's associate was allegedly abducted and robbed of Rs 14 lakh. The arrested men were produced before the district court, while the prime accused, Sub-Inspector M. Nongthoiba Singha, remains at large, police said.

The incident dates back to September 10, when a local businessman dispatched his associate with Rs 25 lakh to be handed over to a business contact in Dharmanagar, Tripura. The associate boarded the Silchar–Agartala train with the money and arrived at Patharkandi Railway Station around 12:30 pm.

As soon as he reached the station, five people approached him, forced him into a Mahindra Bolero and drove him towards the Chandkhira area, where he was robbed of Rs 14 lakh in cash.

Preliminary investigations indicated that Lance Naik Anwar Hossain and constable Sajal Shuklabaidya, acting on the instructions of SI Singha, used the police station's official Emergency Response Support System (ERSS 112) vehicle to abduct the businessman's associate from the railway station. He was then taken towards the Mundamala field area, where the money was forcibly taken from him.

During the probe, police recovered Rs 1 lakh of the looted cash from the residences of Hossain and Shuklabaidya, leading to their immediate arrest. The search for the absconding sub-inspector is ongoing.