Photo: Pankajkulee / Wikimedia Commons, CC0
Five people were killed and one was wounded when a gunman opened fire at Hotel Bilas Inn in Guwahati’s Bora Service area, off the busy GS Road, at around 9 pm on Monday, October 26. Police arrested the man they say had leased the hotel, Ghanakanta Gogoi, within about an hour and recovered a .32-calibre pistol.
What the police have said
Guwahati Police Commissioner Partha Sarathi Mahanta said six people suffered gunshot wounds and five of them died. Four were found dead at the scene, and a fifth died later at Gauhati Medical College and Hospital, according to hospital and police accounts.
Four of the dead belonged to one family from the hotel owners’ side, the commissioner said. The fifth person killed, and the man who survived, came from the same village as that family. Doctors said the injured man, 42, was hit in the shoulder and his condition was stable. Both people taken to hospital were reported to be from Barpeta in western Assam.
We suspect the incident stemmed from a dispute between the hotel owners and Gogoi over a lease agreement. Gogoi had taken the hotel on lease last year.
Partha Sarathi Mahanta, Guwahati Police Commissioner
Mahanta said the accused was not a hired killer and was not related to the victims. He added that the weapon, reported to be a licensed .32-bore pistol, had been seized and that Gogoi was being questioned.
Investigation still at an early stage
Police stressed that the lease dispute is a preliminary finding that still has to be verified. Forensic teams examined the scene, and officers said they were working to establish the exact sequence of events and the circumstances that led to the shooting. The commissioner said a clearer picture was expected by Tuesday.
Police said the names of the dead would be formally released only after verification, so that they are reported accurately.
Why it has shaken the city
The killings took place at a hotel on one of the city’s busiest commercial roads, and for many residents they revived memories of a darker period, when militant violence repeatedly struck crowded public places in Guwahati. The worst of those attacks came on October 30, 2008, when serial blasts hit Ganeshguri, Panbazar and Fancy Bazaar and killed more than 55 people in the city.
What happens next
Investigators are examining the lease agreement and the dispute between the owners’ side and the leaseholder, alongside the forensic evidence gathered at the hotel. Police have said they will share further details, including the identities of those killed, as the probe progresses.
