Injured tea vendor dies after attack

A tea vendor, who was set on fire allegedly by pro-Inner Line Permit activists last month, died at a hospital in a Guwahati hospital early today, officials said.
Bishashwar Das, who suffered 50 per cent burn injuries after the attack, expired at the NIMCARE Hospital in Guwahati a little after 5 o'clock in the morning, East Khasi Hills Deputy Commissioner Sanjay Goyal said.
Unidentified persons sprinkled petrol on Das, 45, and set him on fire at his shop in Bishnupur area of the city on November 16. He was taken to a nearby hospital before he was shifted to Guwahati for better treatment.

Four Khasi Students Union (KSU) leaders who had gone hiding since the attack were arrested last week and charges of attack and subsequently murder slapped on them, District SP M Kharkrang said.
State Home Minister Roshan Warjri condoled the bereaved families of Das.
She has, however, refused to divulge whether the government would compensate for the lives.

The petrol bomb attack on Das is the fourth in a series of attacks allegedly by pro-ILP activists and he is the third victim to have died in ILP-related violence in Meghalaya over the past three months.
Businessman Vikas Nandwal, who suffered 60 per cent burn injuries when assailants attacked him at his shop in Motphran area of the city on October 9, had died in a New Delhi hospital on October 26.

KSU members - Wankerlang Jyrwa and Badonkupar Nongbri - were arrested and charged for the murder.
Vidya Devi Chokhani, 74, the wife of the owner of a Textile shop died of suffocation caused by the smoke after a petrol bomb was hurled at her shop in September 28.
Pro-ILP activists have intensified their anti-government protest in the state since September 2 demanding immediate implementation of the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulations Act, 1873 which facilitated the restriction of 'outsiders' into the states in north-east by means of an Inner Line Permit.