DIBRUGARH, June 12 ? An assistant manager of the Modarkhat tea estate near Tengakhat in the Dibrugarh district was today lynched by a group of irate tea workers. He later succumbed to his injuries. A group of about 8 to 10 persons went to the assistant manager of the estate, Mukul Dowerah, this morning, asking for work. Of these, three were sacked from service about a fortnight ago for unauthorized absence from work over a prolonged period. Moreover, as there was no vacancy, he told the group accordingly and went out to the Sadavisa out garden for his routine duties. As he returned to his office around noon on his motorcycle, the group accosted him once again. A quarrel ensued, after which the mob turned violent and the tea executive was brutally assaulted and hacked to death.
The incident has sent shock waves throughout the tea world in this part of the country, as it closely follows a similar incident in the Sonitpur district, where two executive were killed by a violent mob.
Expressing shock and grief over the incident, the general secretary of the Assam Chah Mazdoor Sangha, Madhusudan Khandait told The Assam Tribune today that he and his association condemns the killing and that the police should arrest the culprits immediately. ?There can be no alternative to negotiations, however serious the problem may be,? he insisted, and urged tea workers to be restrained and not be misled by trouble mongers. Dowerah hails from the city?s Seujopur area. His body has been brought here late in the evening for the last rites.