A senior journalist died hours after being hit by a speeding truck near his residence in eastern Assam's Tinsukia district on Wednesday evening. The TV channel he worked for, however, suspected it could be murder as he had received a threat for a series of news stories about alleged corruption.
Parag Bhuyan, 53, a resident of Kakopothar town was knocked down on the NH-15 at around 8:10 pm and he succumbed to his injuries at around 9:50 am on Thursday. The vehicle, which was carrying green tea leaves, fled the scene after hitting Bhuyan near his residence.
Bhuyan was the Kakopathar correspondent of Pratidin Time, a popular Assamese satellite news channel headquartered in Guwahati and Asomiya Khabor, an Assamese daily published from Guwahati.
A statement issued by the Assam police headquarters said the vehicle was seized on Thursday afternoon from Namsai in the neighbouring Arunachal Pradesh and the driver and helper were arrested.
Nitumoni Saikia, Editor-in-Chief of Pratidin Time, issued a statement alleging that police swung into action only after instruction from Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal.
"The initial lackluster approach of the police gave us reason to be suspicious about the whole incident and we suspect that that brave journalist was murdered as he has been doing series of reporting exposing illegalities and corruption around Kakopothar. He had received personal threat also for these reporting," Saikia said in the statement.
Suspecting it a planned murder, Saikia demanded a thorough inquiry into the incident.
Gauhati Press Club also requested Sonowal to form a special investigation team to probe the case in a time-bound manner.
"The circumstances under which the senior journalist has lost his life hint towards foul play, making it a fit case for a high-level inquiry, " GPC president, Manoj Kumar Nath and general secretary, Sanjoy Ray said in a statement.
Bhuyan was the brother of former Assam Minister Jagadish Bhuyan, who is now a senior leader of the newly floated party Assam Jatiya Parishad.