SILCHAR: A day after a BJP gram panchayat president was shot dead by unidentified miscreants in Assam 's Cachar district, police have detained five persons in connection with the incident.Those detained are Montu Chakraborty, Jainul Ali, Darasing Rajbongshi, Mujibur Rahman Laskar and Nizamuddin Laskar, a senior police officer said, adding that they are being interrogated at the moment. With the Lok Sabha polls round the corner, police are also assessing the law and order situation in the area, he added.On Tuesday, Sukhendu Das (40), who is the president of Haticherra GP in Borkhola block of Cachar district, was shot at around 9pm while he was returning home on a scooter along with another BJP party worker after attending an election meeting. Rinku Senapati (30), who was driving the two-wheeler, was critically injured after the bullet hit him.Both Sukhendu and Rinku were rushed to Silchar Medical College Hospital where Sukhendu succumbed to his injuries at 11pm. Rinku is in the ICU and his condition remains critical, sources said.Cachar SP Mughdha Jyoti Dev Mahanta confirmed that Sukhendu, the gram panchayat president who was elected as a BJP candidate in last year's rural polls, was shot at by unidentified miscreants on Tuesday night. Mahanta said it is suspected that hand-made guns and improvised weapons were used in the attack. So far no political angle has been found behind the attack, he added. The SP said security measures have been tightened across the district following the incident.Sukhendu, who was riding pillion, was hit by the bullet on his back. He later succumbed to his injuries. Sukendu is survived by his wife and two sons.Meanwhile, locals of Haticherra on Wednesday took out a protest rally with Sukhendu's body. BJP leaders, including former Union minister Kabindra Purakayastha, BJP Cachar district president Kaushik Rai, and MLAs - Kishore Nath, Aminul Haque Laskar, Mihir Kanti Shome and Amar Chand Jain - joined the rally.They demanded stringent punishment to the miscreants involved in the crime. As the rally crossed the place where Sukhendu was shot, an irate crowd started pelting stones at nearby houses. Police and CRPF intervened and brought the situation under control, sources said.

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