Guwahati, Nov 4: The prime accused in the Guwahati hotel firing incident that claimed five lives was killed in police firing in Assam’s Sivasagar district early Wednesday while allegedly attempting to escape from custody, a senior officer said.
The encounter took place at Gaurisagar around 3.10 am when the accused was being taken to Sivasagar in connection with a separate case, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Papori Chetia said.
Ghanakanta Gogoi (34) was arrested by Sivasagar police in a 2024 bank fraud case on Tuesday, hours after a court in Guwahati remanded him to judicial custody following the completion of seven days of police remand in the hotel firing case.
“He was a trained shooter and an experienced person with different weapons. When he alighted from the police vehicle to relieve himself, he tried to snatch the service weapon of our investigating officer (IO). There was a scuffle with the accused, and our officer was badly injured. To save our officer, the PSO of the Sivasagar Sadar Police Station officer-in-charge had to fire,” Chetia said.
Gogoi sustained a bullet injury and was taken to a hospital, where he was declared dead, the SSP said.
The injured police officer is undergoing treatment at a local hospital, Chetia said.
“Gogoi was a criminal-minded person. He was a threat to our officers. For defence, the personal security officer of the OC had to shoot,” the SSP added.
Chetia said three bullets were fired from the IO’s weapon during the scuffle, though none of them hit any person. One of the bullets hit the police vehicle.
The doctor who attended to Gogoi said he was brought dead.
“He had a bullet injury near his heart. He was brought dead,” the doctor said.
Sharing details of the case in which he was arrested, the SSP said it was filed by the then Punjab National Bank Manager Debabrat Buragohain in 2024 at Sivasagar police station.
“The case was already under investigation and arrest of the accused was pending. We were looking for him. Last night, we took him in custody and he was being brought to Sivasagar,” Chetia added.
Five people, including four from a business family, were killed and another person was injured in the firing incident at Hotel Bilas Inn in Bora Service area of Guwahati on October 26 in connection with an alleged dispute between the owners of the property and its leaseholder over the management of the hotel.
Gogoi, the leaseholder, had been arrested soon after the incident, and a licenced .32-bore pistol allegedly used in the crime had been seized from his possession.
The deceased were identified as Bhudev Bharali (65), his sister Helena (58), her son Debarshi Kashyap (39) and daughter-in-law Rinika Kashyap (30), and family staffer Narayan Das (48).
A driver of the Bharali family, Satyendra Pathak (43), was also injured in the shooting.
Assam Police formed a six-member special investigating team (SIT) to probe the firing incident, with the bereaved family alleging the attack was planned and demanding exemplary punishment for the accused.
However, three members of the SIT were transferred from Guwahati within days of the killings in the heart of the city.
On Monday, the accused was taken to the site for crime-scene recreation under heavy security deployment.
According to a police statement, the Bharali family had entered into a five-year lease agreement with the accused on September 10, 2025, at a monthly rent of approximately Rs 1.8 lakh.
Following renovation of the property by the accused, disagreements arose regarding the use of the premises and provision of certain facilities, it added.
A meeting was scheduled at the hotel on October 26 to resolve these issues. However, even before the meeting could commence, an argument escalated into a physical fight, following which Gogoi opened fire on six people, the statement added. (PTI)
