After stabbing Tripura youth in Dehradun, accused bought booze and partied, some didn’t head home for days

On December 9, Suraj Khwas invited five of his friends to celebrate his son’s first birthday at Dehradun’s Selaqui market. The plan was to buy liquor from a shop and then head to Avinash Negi’s tea shop. The group, comprising these two men, Yagya Raj Awasthi, Sumit, and two juveniles, milled around the liquor shop when they ran into brothers Anjel and Michael Chakma. In minutes, Anjel was stabbed, and Michael seriously injured. In his complaint to the police, Michael said that the group had hurled racial slurs before attacking the duo.

As Michael struggled to get Anjel to the hospital, the group went back to their business; got the liquor, went to Negi’s shop, and celebrated, police say.

On December 26, Anjel died while undergoing treatment. He had suffered injuries to his head and spine, which proved fatal. As the murder caused outrage both in Uttarakhand and in Northeast India – Anjel was from Tripura and was allegedly called ‘Chinese’ and ‘momo’ before the stabbing — Uttarakhand police dispatched two teams to find Awasthi, who is on the run and believed to be in Nepal, where he hails from.

On Monday night, however, Dehradun Senior Superintendent of Police Ajai Singh said that “prima facie, there is no evidence of racial violence”. “A hot clash took place after which the victim was injured and later died during treatment. There was confusion that the accused made a remark, which resulted in the fight,” he said.

Three men have been sent to judicial custody, and the juveniles, aged 15 and 17, to correctional homes. The FIR was registered under various sections, including murder and the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. Three accused belonging to the SC/ST community will not be charged under the latter section, the police said.

Son of a BSF head constable, Anjel Chakma was among the first in his final-year MBA batch to be placed at a private company.

According to an officer privy to the investigation, trouble started when the six accused were laughing, and the Chakmas asked them what they were laughing about. “The argument took a violent turn. The youngest was a hothead, and he hit Michael with his kada. All of them participated in the assault. Awasthi got hold of the knife from a pushcart selling fruits and stabbed Anjel.” The weapon has not been recovered so far.

According to the police, Negi (25) lives in Shankarpur, Sumit (26), who only goes by his first name, in Tilwari, and Khwas (21), originally from Manipur, lives in Dhulkot. Awasthi (25), whose father is a priest at a temple in Haridwar, is originally from Krishnapur in Nepal and was doing odd jobs in India.

Negi’s mother, who visited the hospital where Anjel was admitted, said his family was “furious, rightfully so”. “Any parent would react that way,” she said. Her husband, an Armyman, died when she was pregnant with Negi. And while her other son went on to become a soldier, Negi attempted the written exam twice but failed. He took up a job at an AC manufacturing unit, and two months ago, opened a tea shop with his friends. After the incident on December 9, he didn’t come home, his mother said. “Two days later, he came home and didn’t say a word. He said he was at the shop. The next day, the police came,” she said.

Sumit’s family said he worked in a factory, making Rs 12,000 a month. Born in Landour, Sumit and his family moved to Dehradun seven years ago, where they live in a two-room house on the city’s outskirts. The family said he had a daughter six months ago. “His phone was switched off, and he didn’t come home that night. The next day, he came to the hospital where his father was admitted for an illness, but he didn’t inform us. On the day he was arrested, I got to know. I went to the police station and shouted at him,” said his mother, Pavni. Sumit knew Negi from when he worked at the factory.

One of the juveniles studied up to class 11 before the school cancelled his registration in September last year. The school’s principal said his attendance and behaviour were an issue. “I counselled him multiple times, but he remained indisciplined and aggressive throughout his time here,” he said.

Meanwhile, as Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami posted a video of him speaking to Anjel’s father, scrutiny grew over whether the Uttarakhand police had been slow to respond. Churanta Tripura, general secretary of the Unified Tripura Students’ Association, said, “He was hit on his head and shoulders, there were injuries to his spine, and he had to be rushed to the hospital. Michael was also badly injured. The next day, when we approached the police, they accused us of being late in reporting the crime. The police did not visit the spot or the hospital until we informed them. Similarly, when we provided them with a report on the incident on behalf of the association, the police accused us of politicising it. Once outrage started pouring in, they started being more proactive,” he alleged.