The sister of Baidullah Khan, prime accused in abetting the suicide of animal rights activist Vineet Bagaria, was on Saturday arrested by Dibrugarh Police on charges of extortion.
According to police, Khan’s sister was allegedly involved in extortion and also forced a woman to sell her kidney.
The father of Baidullah, Abdula Khan is reportedly a local money lender in Dibrugarh. The victim in question had reportedly taken money from him after which his daughter and Baidullah’s sister allegedly extorted the amount from her forcing her to sell one of her kidneys.
Police said that the accused also threatened the victim’s family and assaulted them physically.
The victim has said that she had borrowed Rs 1 lakh at an extremely high interest rate and had to sell one of her kidneys after facing harassment over not being able to clear her dues.
The borrowed amount had touched Rs 3.5 lakhs after interest, she was told after which the victim sold her kidney with no other option left.
She also alleged inaction on the part of Dibrugarh police whom she had approached in 2020 for help. Dibrugarh SP Shwetank Mishra has however denied the claims.
Police said that Baidullah’s sister was arrested today following an FIR by the victim. She was booked under sections 341/387/294/506/34 IPC r/w section 14(z) Assam Micro Finance Institution (Regulation of Money Lending) Act, 2020 r/w section 19 (d) of the Transplantation of the Human Organs and Tissues Act, 1994.
Baidullah Khan was the main accused out of three others in abetting the suicide of an animal rights activist Vineet Bagaria in Dibrugarh. Following public outcry over his death, Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma had apologized to the family of Bagaria.
The Assam CM also expressed displeasure at the district administration and police over their inability to prevent such an incident. Later on, the residence of Khan was demolished after authorities found it to be illegal and unauthorized.
