As many as four individuals have been arrested concerning the damage to the dam in Bethukandi. The Cachar Police has initiated an investigation based on an FIR lodged by the Irrigation Department. On Friday night, the Police detained Kabul Khan from his residence, and the following interrogation, he was arrested.

Based on interrogation and further investigation, the Police arrested Mithu Hussain Laskar on Saturday. Sources in the Police department confirmed that these arrests were being made based on a few videos the Police has at its disposal.

Today morning, it has been confirmed that the Police have arrested two more individuals taking the total to four. The two individuals arrested today are Nazir Hussain Laskar and Ripon Khan. The Police department has refused to comment on this issue at this stage as they feel that sharing details could derail the investigation.

On May 24, the Water Resources Department filed a police complaint against unknown miscreants for breaking through the barrier at Bethukandi, some 3 kilometers from the town center, to allow rainwater from a marsh to pour into the Barak river.

However, it is worth mentioning here that the family members of Kabul Khan, who was the first arrested in this case, claimed innocence. They said that Kabul Khan had gone there to catch fish, and when he saw water flooding through the cut embankment, he made a video of the same.

It is worth mentioning that the Bethukandi is one of the essential embankments controlling the river Barak. A breach in that embankment was reported in May, and as the water level rose in June, almost the whole of Silchar got inundated. As instructed by the Chief Minister of Assam, Dr. Himanta Biswa Sarma, a thorough investigation is being done to unearth the culprits of the damage that arguably, caused the worst flood in the history of Silchar.

What is also worth noting is that there is a long-standing demand of the people of Mahisabeel to construct a sluice gate through which the water can recede once the river water level has fallen. Their plight has remained unattended for decades. The money has been sanctioned several times, and the construction also started, but it never concluded. This time, the locals decided to cut a portion of the land and make a gate on their own.

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had earlier stated that the flood was a man-made calamity and that those responsible would face harsh punishment. Sarma said on Friday that six persons had been identified as the perpetrators of the embankment collapse that caused a deadly flood in Silchar town.

Chief Minister showed Kabul Khan's video of the rupture to locals during a visit to the Cachar district embankment site. Sarma was seen asking people to identify the speakers in the video.

“The Bethukandi incident is a big lesson for us. The next time there is a flood, we have to post police officers at the embankment so that nobody can breach it. Regarding the Bethukandi breach, CID has been asked to register a case in Guwahati. Now the case for the Silchar flood shall be registered in Guwahati, people shall be interrogated in Guwahati, and all investigations shall be done from Guwahati,” said CM Himanta Biswa Sarma.

Assam’s flood crisis deteriorated on Friday, with 14 more lives lost, bringing the death toll to 173, and a population of 29.70 lakh people impacted across 30 districts. Many areas of Cachar district’s badly affected Silchar town remain submerged. The Chief Minister presented a cheque for Rs 4 lakh to the families of the ten people who lost their lives in the Silchar disaster during his recent visit.