Three police officers who were part of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the October 26 shooting at a Guwahati hotel have been transferred to new postings as part of a reshuffle involving seven Assam Police officers.
The transfers come days after the shooting at Hotel Bilas Inn, where a dispute over the property’s lease and management allegedly turned violent.
Those transferred include DCP (Central) Shambhavi Mishra, Additional DCP Viku L. Achumi and Inspector Kuleshjyoti Bhuyan, who was in charge of Paltan Bazar Police Station. All three were members of the six-officer SIT formed after the shooting at Hotel Bilas Inn on GS Road, which left five people dead and one injured. Achumi has been appointed Second-in-Command of the 28th Assam Police Battalion at Howly in Barpeta, while Bhuyan has been transferred to the Border Branch of Assam Police. Their replacements in Guwahati Central will be Mrinal Deka, Principal of the Lachit Barphukan Police Academy, and Prithwiraj Rajkhowa, who is currently serving as Superintendent of Police of Lakhipur co-district. The notification also names four other officers affected by the reshuffle. Pradip Saikia, who was Commandant of the 6th Assam Police Battalion, has been posted as Assistant Inspector General (Administration) at Assam Police Headquarters. Partha Pratim Duwarah, who was serving as ACP (Panbazar), has been transferred to the 1st Assam Police Battalion at Ligiripukhuri in Sivasagar. Rishav Phukan, DSP with the 1st Commando Battalion at Mandakata, will take over his position. Police have identified the hotel’s leaseholder, Ghanakanta Gogoi, as the prime accused. Disagreements reportedly emerged over the use of the premises and its facilities after renovation work. Gogoi was arrested soon after the shooting. A local court subsequently remanded him to seven days of police custody.
He is due to be produced before the court again on November 3. The property was leased to him under a five-year agreement signed in September 2025, with a monthly rent of around Rs 1.8 lakh, according to the police account. Police also seized a licensed .32-bore pistol suspected to have been used in the firing.
Mishra has been posted as Commandant of the 6th Assam Police Battalion at Kathal in Cachar district, according to a Home and Political Department notification.
