A man accused in the alleged gangrape of a 14-year-old girl in Assam’s Nagaon district died in police custody on Saturday after he attempted to escape by “jumping” into a pond, The Indian Express reported.

The 24-year-old, identified as Tafazul Islam, was among the three persons accused in the gangrape case. The incident took place on Thursday in the district’s Dhing area. He was the only accused arrested by the police so far.

In the early hours of Saturday, Islam was taken to the scene of the incident near a pond when he attempted to escape, the police said.

“After he was interrogated, he was taken to the crime scene,” The Indian Express quoted Nagaon Superintendent of Police Swapnaneel Deka as saying. “It is there that he tried to escape and jumped into a lake.”

The incident occurred around 3.30 am on Saturday, according to The Hindu.

Deka added that the area was cordoned off immediately and that the State Disaster Response Force was alerted.

“After the SDRF [State Disaster Response Force] searched, they recovered the body,” the police official said. “Our constable, who was holding his [Islam’s] handcuffs, has got some injury in his hand and has been sent for treatment.”

The Print quoted Deka as saying that Islam “slipped and fell” into the pond after he pushed a constable and tried to escape. “We tried to rescue him, but couldn’t,” he was quoted as saying.

The man had been charged under sections of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act.

The alleged gangrape on Thursday triggered protests by the locals who called for business establishments to be shut indefinitely until stringent action was taken against the culprits.

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said that the police will not spare the culprits, adding that he had told the director general of police to visit the site and ensure swift justice.

While speaking to reporters on Friday, the Sarma added that after the Lok Sabha elections, in which the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party fell short of majority in the Lower House, a section of society felt emboldened to commit crimes.

Sarma did not clarify which community he was referring to.

Indigenous communities were living in constant fear in regions where they had become a numeric minority, Sarma claimed. “We should identify the real perpetrators behind these heinous crimes and not be stuck in blaming communities within the Hindu society,” the chief minister said.

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