‘Woman burnt to death was not the one who kissed Rahul’

Guwahati: The police have denied that the woman, who died of burn injuries in Assam, was the one who had kissed Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi during his recent two-day state visit, news reports claimed on Saturday.

A news channel quoted Superintendent of Police Amanjeet Kaur as saying that the woman who died was a Congress member, but was not present during Rahul's meet. The SP said the investigations are on.

Kaur said the victim, Bonti Chutia, died of burn injuries, while her husband, Someswar Chutia, had also sustained 35 percent burn injuries.

"We have talked to people and came to know that although she (the victim) came to the venue Wednesday to interact with the Congress leader, she stayed outside the programme for some reasons," IANS quoted Kaur as saying. "We also came to know from the neighbours that both the husband and wife had a strained relationship for a long time and that could be one of the reasons for the incident," she said.

In yet another conflicting report, a leading newspaper quoted Sub-Divisional Police officer Kulendra Deka as saying that the police have checked the video of Rahul's interaction session, but the lady in question was nowhere close to the Congress vice president during the entire event. The police officer also said that no complaint has been filed, which says the husband set her wife on fire. Earlier, separate reports had claimed that the woman, who kissed the Gandhi scion during his Assam tour, was burnt to death allegedly by her husband.

Reports said that a quarrel occurred between the couple over the kissing incident, following which the husband set his wife on fire.