DIBRUGARH: After being on the run for over three weeks, one of the main accused allegedly involved in the abetment to suicide of animal rights activist Vineet Bagaria surrendered before the chief judicial magistrate court in Dibrugarh on Monday.
After Sanjay Sharma surrendered in court, the chief judicial magistrate sent him to judicial custody. Police had earlier issued a lookout notice against him. Two other accused Baidullah Khan and Nishant Sharma have already been arrested in this connection.
On July 7, Bagaria (32), who was the co-founder of Animal Welfare People, allegedly hung himself to death at his Dibrugarh residence. Before his death, he had shot a video on his cell phone where he accused Baidullah, Sanjay and Nishant of physically and mentally torturing him for a long time, compelling him to take the drastic step. Later, on the basis of an FIR filed by his father Kailash Bagaria, a chartered accountant, police arrested Baidullah and Nishant from the Lumding railway station in Hojai district on July 8 while they were trying to flee the state. The Bagaria family later alleged that the Dibrugarh police did not take any step against the culprits and even refused to file an FIR when they had approached them.
The incident had caused widespread outrage across the state prompting chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma to visit Bagaria's residence and apologise, terming it as the failure of police to take action against the accused. The officer in charge of Dibrugarh police station was transferred after the CM's visit. The the district authorities also demolished Baidullah's residence soon after.