Families cremate five Guwahati hotel shooting victims in Barpeta, Baksa

The last rites of the five people killed in the Guwahati hotel shooting were performed at their native places in Assam’s Barpeta and Baksa districts late on Tuesday night, October 27, as hundreds of relatives, neighbours and local residents gathered to pay their final respects.

Four members of a business family — Bhudev Bharali (65), his sister Helena (58), her son Debarshi Kashyap (39) and daughter-in-law Rinika Kashyap (30) — were cremated in Barpeta town. Family staffer Narayan Das (48) was cremated at his native village of Nimua in Baksa district.

The five were killed in a shooting at Hotel Bilas Inn in the Bora Service area on GS Road in Guwahati on Monday night following a dispute over the management of the property between its owners and leaseholder Ghanakanta Gogoi (34). The family’s driver, Satyendra Pathak (43), was also shot and remains under treatment.

An official said the bodies of the four family members reached their residence at Issapurhati in Barpeta town at around 10:15 pm on Tuesday after post-mortem examinations and other formalities. Das’s body arrived at his native village at around 10:30 pm.

A large crowd gathered at the Bharali family’s residence to mourn the deaths. The four family members were cremated together around midnight at a cremation ground on the banks of the Nakhanda River.

“Later, four pyres were lit together around midnight at the crematorium ground on the banks of the Nakhanda River. Hundreds of people bade farewell to them,” the official said.

Pathak, the sole survivor of the shooting, is undergoing treatment at Gauhati Medical College and Hospital (GMCH). Hospital superintendent Devajit Choudhury said the bullet had passed through Pathak’s right hand without damaging any vital nerves.

Gogoi was arrested shortly after the incident with a licensed .32-bore pistol allegedly used in the shooting, police said. A court on Tuesday night remanded him to seven days of police custody. He is scheduled to be produced before the court again on November 3.

Assam Police has constituted a six-member Special Investigation Team (SIT) to investigate the incident. Guwahati Joint Police Commissioner Ankur Jain will head the team, which includes DCP (Central) Shambhavi Mishra, DCP (Crime) Debajit Nath, ADCP (Central) Viku Achumi, Paltan Bazar police station officer-in-charge Kuleshjyoti Bhuyan and sub-inspector Abinash Das.

The bereaved family has alleged that the attack was premeditated and demanded exemplary punishment for the accused.

According to a police statement, the Bharali family entered into a five-year lease agreement with Gogoi on September 10, 2025, at a monthly rent of around Rs 1.8 lakh. Disagreements reportedly emerged after Gogoi renovated the property, with both sides differing over its use and the provision of certain facilities.

A meeting had been scheduled at the hotel on Monday to resolve the dispute. However, an argument reportedly escalated into a physical altercation before the meeting could begin, following which Gogoi allegedly opened fire on six people, the police statement said.