Biswa Kalyan Purkayastha
SILCHAR: A Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader in Assam who was expelled from the party over the weekend has been arrested in connection with the death of a woman party colleague who died by suicide after the leak of her private photos, police said on Tuesday.
Anurag Chaliha, who was expelled by the BJP a day after the woman’s suicide on August 11, was arrested on Monday evening. The woman was also an Assam BJP leader and general secretary of a party frontal organisation.
She was found dead at her Guwahati house on August 11. Police said she died due to an overdose of prescription pills. Both the woman and Chaliha are from Golaghat district.
Anurag Chaliha was expelled from the party after his name figured during the initial investigation into her death. Police said Chaliha was a tenant at the woman’s house in Golaghat and was blamed for her suicide by her family.
A senior official of Assam police said that Tahbildar’s family lodged a police complaint against Chaliha at Guwahati’s Chandmari police station. Police registered a case under section 120B (criminal conspiracy), 306 (abetment of suicide) and 384 (extortion) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) against Anurag Chaliha.
Chaliha went missing soon after.
A police officer said investigators tracked his mobile and social media accounts and he was traced to a location in Sivasagar district. “With the help of local police, we arrested him from the Demow area on Monday night,” the officer added.
Police said the two are alleged to have been in a relationship at some point and Chaliha threatened to release the photographs after a falling out. When the photos were leaked, she believed he had carried out his threat. A BJP leader said Chaliha denied the charge when some BJP leaders questioned him about the episode.
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