Guwahati, May 22: A day after a mob set a police station in Assam’s Nagaon district on fire over an alleged custodial death case, bulldozers demolished the houses of at least three people allegedly involved in the violence. Government sources, however, claimed that the homes were razed as part of a drive to remove encroachment.

While 21 people have been picked up in  connection with the violence at the police station, another independent probe has been ordered on alleged custodial death.

Authorities demolished a few houses that belonged to a few of the accused in Saturday’s  violent vandalism and arson of Batadrava police station by an irate  mob.

39-year-old Safiqul Islam, a fish seller, is alleged to have died due to police brutality while in custody. According to Assam DGP’s social media post, he had been picked up on Friday night in a drunken state and was released on saturday. Later, he complained of sickness and was taken to two hospitals but was declared dead.

His family alleged custodial torture for delay in paying up bribe allegedly demanded by the cops.

On saturday, after Safiqul’s death, an irate mob of about 40 people out numbered the cops, vandalised and set the police station on fire.

Atleast half of them, including women, have already been picked up by the cops.

The demolition and the administration’s subsequent anti-encroachment argument fits a pattern that has emerged of late in BJP-ruled states, and many in Assam are already questioning the action.

While Assam Police has suspended the officer in-charge of Batadrava Station, the DGP had stated that it was not an “action-reaction incident” but was carried out by criminals to destroy case records. But question remains why the cops were unable to control the mob at the first place.