Sivasagar, June 24: Bubu Konwar, Assam’s dreaded criminal accused in multiple murders, car lifting, extortion and drug cases, who had been a pain in the neck for the Assam Police for over two decades, was on Wednesday shot dead in a police encounter at Sivasagar of Upper Assam.
Sivasagar SP, Rakesh Raushan said they had information on Konwar conducting an arms deal at Gelakey, about 29 km from the district headquarters along Assam-Nagaland borders and laid an ambush accordingly.
“Konwar arrived there at around 6.45 PM riding a scooty along with another. When police confronted, he open fired instead and so, police too had to fire in defence. After a gun battle, Konwar was found injured while his accomplice had fled,” Raushan said.
Police immediately rushed Konwar to a nearby hospital where he was declared “brought dead”.
While a search operation has been initiated to apprehend Konwar’s accomplice, 10 containers of brown sugar and a pistol have been recovered from the crime scene.
According to police records, 45-year-old Konwar, also known as Anguli Kanta (Severed fingers) for losing three of his fingers while making a crude bomb that went off in 2008, was born in Amguri, Sivasagar and was raised in Nagaland where his father was a cop.
He had begun committing petty crimes like theft and robbery since he was 16-years-old and graduated to committing highway robberies, extortion, arms and drugs smuggling, kidnapping and murder.
While his wife claims him to be a contract killer for politicians, Konwar was accused of the murder of prominent doctor Mridul Baruah, Congress leader Hemanta Baruah, businessman KL Ginoria in 2012 and school headmaster DN Gogoi in 2014 had grabbed headlines in Assam.
Back in 2016, when gangs of car lifters that used to rob cars by slitting its owner’s throats along Assam-Nagaland borders had gained certain notoriety, Konwar had admitted of committing 42 murders to television channels. This, however, was not probed further.
Sivasagar SP, Raushan said that Konwar has 14 cases against him in various police stations in the district. However, he has over 45 active cases throughout the state.
Last March, Konwar was arrested by Jorhat police along with brown sugar from Sivasagar and was later released on bail.
