Assam: Two arrested in connection with suicide of animal rights activist

Dibrugarh: A day after the shocking suicide of Vineet Bagaria, a 32-year-old prominent animal rights activist in Dibrugarh, the police on Friday arrested two persons on charge of abetting the suicide.

A team of Dibrugarh police arrested the two accused - Baidullah Khan and Nishant Sharma- from Lumding. Two more accused, Sanjay Sarma and Izaz Khan are still absconding.

On Thursday, Vineet Bagaria hung himself to death at his residence at the Shani Mandir road in Dibrugarh. His family members took him to hospital but doctors declared him brought dead. The public staged protest in front of Dibrugarh police station for an hour demanding capital punishment of the culprits. The public raised slogans and demanded suspension of Dibrugarh police station officer in-charge.

"We demanded capital punishment for the culprits. After filing multiple complaints against Sanjay Sarma and Baidullah Khan, police had not taken the case seriously. Vineet tried hard to get justice but when he failed to do so, he committed suicide," said a protester.

With postcards and banners seeking justice for Vineet, a large number of people gathered at his residence to paid condolence. After that a procession was taken out with his body where a large number of people gathered.

Before his death, Vineet had self recorded a video where he accused Baidullah Khan, Sanjay Sharma and Nishant Sharma of physically and mentally torturing him and his family over a piece of rental property.

Vineet's father Kailash Kumar Bagaria, a prominent chartered accountant of the town, had lodged an FIR at the Dibrugarh Police Station on Thursday evening naming the three persons responsible for his son's death. Vineet's death had caused widespread outrage in the town as he was quite popular for his ever-helpful nature. He was often seen in the streets of Dibrugarh feeding stray dogs and taking care of abandoned and sick animals.

Vineet was the co-founder of Animal Welfare People (AWP), an NGO which takes care of stray dogs. His group had rescued many dogs which were injured in accident. During Covid-19 pandemic, Vinnet had feed many stray dogs. His love for animals has encouraged youngsters to join the NGO.

Sources said that for the last several years there had been a clash going on between Vineet's family and Baidullah Khan. Vineet's father is said to have given a space in the ground floor of his residence on the Shani Mandir Road to Sanjay Sharma to run a business but he had allegedly sub-let the space to Baidullah Khan who then opened a motorcycle spare parts shop.

The Khemani family has been asking them to vacate the property for the last several years but they didn't give any heed to his request, sources said. The matter also went to court. Kailash Kumar Bagaria alleged that the accused did not pay rent for the property but instead they used to physically and mentally harass them, which he said led to his son taking the extreme decision. The public in Dibrugarh shut down their shops seeking justice for Vineet. Most of the shops in HS road area remained closed during the day. "If police had taken the case seriously then nothing like this would have happened. We want justice for Vineet and demand strict punishment for the culprits," said protesters. His cremation was performed at Chowkidinghee crematorium with traditional rituals.

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