An Indian Army personnel during a search and rescue operation after a minitruck carrying 21 construction workers from Assam plunges into a deep gorge, in Hayuliang, Arunachal Pradesh, on December 11, 2025.
| Photo Credit: PTI
GUWAHATI
The police in eastern Assam’s Tinsukia district arrested two men on charges of supplying labourers illegally to Arunachal Pradesh, 21 of whom were killed in a road accident on December 8.
Officials said Md Sirajul Ahmed, 36, and Sairuddin Ali, 27, were arrested for sending the labourers from Tinsukia’s Gelapukhuri Tea Estate to Anjaw district in Arunachal Pradesh. They were packed off in a truck, which fell into a 200-metre gorge before reaching Chaglagam, their destination.
There were 22 people, including the driver, on the truck. One of them survived to inform the authorities in Chaglagam on December 10.
Rescue teams in Arunachal Pradesh recovered the bodies of 20 labourers by Sunday (December 14, 2025). The search for the remaining worker, believed dead, continued.
Mandatory protocols violated
Tinsukia’s Senior Superintendent of Police, Mayank Kumar Jha, told journalists that mandatory protocols were violated while transporting the workers to Arunachal Pradesh. “During the investigation, we found that the labourers were moved without proper documentation or safety measures,” he said.
A case was registered against the duo, both from Tinsukia district’s Balupara Gaon, under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita. These included section 143(3) dealing with human trafficking and section 105 (culpable homicide).
Mr. Jha said a Special Investigation Team has been constituted to probe the “entire chain” of the case.
On Saturday (December 13) evening, the bodies of six labourers retrieved on December 12 were cremated at the Gelapukhuri Tea Estate. The district authorities received the bodies in the presence of Minister Bimal Borah and Tinsukia MLA Sanjay Kishan.
Published – December 14, 2025 09:07 pm IST
