Owner of boat that capsized in Brahmaputra arrested

The owner of the boat that capsized and sank in the Brahmaputra river near Nimati Ghat in Assam's Jorhat district last week leaving two dead and one missing was arrested from Dibrugarh on Monday, a top police official said.

Guwahati/ Jorhat:The owner of the boat that capsized and sank in the Brahmaputra river near Nimati Ghat in Assam's Jorhat district last week leaving two dead and one missing was arrested from Dibrugarh on Monday, a top police official said.

With this, the number of arrests in connection with the incident has increased to a dozen, including six employees of Inland Water Transport (IWT) Department, who were arrested on Sunday for alleged negligence. Special director general of police GP Singh tweeted the news announcing the arrest of the boat owner. He said the owner of the boat `Maa Kamala', Pani Ram Kalita, was arrested from Aditya Hospital in Dibrugarh. Follow-up investigation would be done by Jorhat Police, Singh added. Besides those arrested, several others had been summoned by Jorhat Police since Sunday to record their statements, police had said.

Jorhat deputy commissioner Ashok Barman said search operation to trace the missing victim continued for the sixth day, with the area of search extended to several kilometers downstream and adjoining areas. The search operation will continue, he added.

At least two persons died and one went missing when a private boat named Ma Kamala' with 92 people onboard capsized and sank in Brahmaputra on September 8 evening, following a head-on collision with a government-owned ferry near Nimati Ghat in Jorhat district. The missing person was identified as Bikramjit Barua (doctor posted in Majuli) from Jorhat. The deceased were Parimita Das (college teacher in Majuli) hailing from Guwahati and Indreswar Bora (school teacher) from Lakhimpur.

PTI