Nizam Uddin Chowdhury, an All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) MLA , was arrested in Assam’s Hailakandi district over charges of “attempting to murder” a BJP minority leader, officials said on Thursday.
Chowdhury is an MLA from the Algapur Assembly seat in Hailakandi.
Ataur Rahman Laskar, a member of the BJP minority cell, alleged that he was attacked by the MLA and three other persons while he was returning home on Tuesday.
After the incident, Laskar filed a complaint at the Panchgram Police Station against four people, including the MLA.
Chowdhury was detained by the police on Wednesday afternoon, and he was later taken into custody after two hours of interrogation.
According the the FIR, Chowdhury and a group of others stopped Laskar’s car near Dhaleswar Point at around 11.30 p.m. on Tuesday.
The complainant said: “They tried to drag me out, broke the windows in my car, and once tried to stab me to death with knives. I took refuge in the Katakhal police outpost after managing to escape somehow.”
Laskar even claimed that Chowdhury and the others attacked him inside the police station as well.
“The police officials saved me from them and they fled seeing the police.”
The police said that the four accused have been charged with violating sections of the IPC, including 148 (assembling or rioting with lethal weapons), 149 (unlawful assembly), 427 (causing damage to property), 353 (assaulting on-duty public official), and 307 (attempt to murder).
Hailakandi SP Leena Doley confirmed Chowdhury’s arrest and added that a search operation is underway to nab the three others.
The AIUDF MLA was produced before a court on Wednesday evening and the Magistrate issued an order to send him to judicial custody.
However, on emergency medical grounds, he was taken to a local hospital.
Earlier, Chowdhury was charged with raping a woman, and on June 17, he appeared before a Hailakandi district court. He was however, granted bail.
