Five people have been killed and one person injured in a firing at a hotel in Guwahati, in an incident that has shaken the city and raised urgent questions about how a property dispute turned deadly. Police said the accused has been arrested, the weapon allegedly used has been seized, and a thorough investigation is under way.
The firing took place at Hotel Bilas Inn in the Bora Service area of Guwahati, close to the Assam Police headquarters. Six people sustained gunshot injuries, and five of them succumbed to their injuries, according to Guwahati City Police Commissioner Partha Sarathi Mahanta. The injured person is undergoing treatment at Gauhati Medical College and Hospital. Four of the five people who died belonged to the same family, while the fifth was from their village, police said.
Arrest within hours, weapon seized
Police identified the accused as Ghanakanta Gogoi, who had taken the hotel on lease. He was traced to the Basistha Police Station area and taken into custody, police said, and a pistol allegedly used in the offence has been seized. The commissioner said the accused was apprehended within an hour of the incident, and interrogation is under way.
According to preliminary findings cited by police, the incident stemmed from a dispute over the lease and management of the hotel. Police said the hotel owners had entered into a lease agreement with Gogoi, and that disagreements arose after renovations over the use of the premises and the provision of certain facilities. A meeting had been scheduled at the hotel to resolve the issues, police said, but an argument escalated into a physical altercation before the meeting could formally begin, following which the accused allegedly opened fire.
A special team, and a city asking questions
Reports say a special investigation team has been formed to probe the case, and the police commissioner has said the investigation will include scientific examination of the evidence to establish the sequence of events.
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What happens next
Investigators now face the task of turning a preliminary account into a tested case: forensic examination of the weapon and the scene, statements from survivors and witnesses, and scrutiny of the lease documents at the heart of the dispute. Until that work is complete, the motive remains a police suspicion, not an established fact, and the families of the victims wait for answers that only a completed investigation can give.
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