‘Nobody should be sad’: Akhil Gogoi says Ghanakanta Gogoi’s killing brings relief, but opposes police encounters

Assam MLA Akhil Gogoi on November 4 said nobody should mourn the death of Ghanakanta Gogoi, the accused in the killing of five people at Guwahati's Hotel Bilas Inn, but reiterated that he does not support police encounters, arguing that the accused should have faced trial and received the death penalty if convicted.

Reacting to Ghanakanta Gogoi's death in police firing in Sivasagar, the Sivasagar MLA described him as a "professional killer" and an "extremist", saying his death should not be a cause for public grief.

"I am not sad about this. He was a professional killer, an extremist, to be more precise. An extremist has been killed in police firing, so nobody should be sad about it. But you all know that I do not support encounters," Akhil Gogoi said.

The MLA said he had wanted the accused to face a speedy trial in the Hotel Bilas Inn murder case, in which five people, including four members of the same family, were shot dead.

He said he had urged Assam Police to file the chargesheet within 15 days and sought completion of the trial within three months, followed by a judgment.

"We were thinking that in the case in which he was arrested, we could have hanged him. That would have been better. But now he has been killed in a police encounter, that too in a 420 case," he said, referring to the cheating-related case in which Ghanakanta Gogoi was being taken to Sivasagar.

Reacting to the Sivasagar Senior Superintendent of Police's account of the incident, the MLA again described it as an encounter and said the accused was an experienced shooter.

He also claimed that the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) had identified Ghanakanta Gogoi as the "biggest criminal in the entire country". This claim could not be independently verified.

"All are happy, including me, that a criminal like him has been killed. But I do not support encounters. A person like Ghanakanta Gogoi had no right to live. I would have been happier if a court had awarded him the death penalty in the Bharali murder case," he said.

Akhil Gogoi also remarked that Sivasagar had witnessed an encounter for the first time, though this claim requires independent verification.

Ghanakanta Gogoi was killed in police firing near Phulpanisiga in Sivasagar district on Wednesday. Police claimed that he attempted to snatch a service revolver from a police personnel while being taken to recover a weapon allegedly linked to a case against him. An exchange of fire followed, leaving him critically injured. He was later declared dead at a hospital.

He was arrested in connection with the October 26 shooting at Hotel Bilas Inn in Guwahati, where five people were killed.