Guwahati hotel firing: Two SIT officers moved in police reshuffle

The Assam government on Saturday transferred two senior officers who were part of the special investigation team (SIT) looking into the Hotel Bilas Inn shooting in Guwahati, in which five people were killed on Monday night.

A Home Department order signed by Additional Chief Secretary (Home and Political) Ajay Tewari moved seven senior police officers with immediate effect, PTI reported.

Who has been moved

Guwahati's Deputy Commissioner of Police (Central), Shambhavi Mishra, becomes Commandant of the 6th Assam Police Battalion at Kathal in Cachar. Additional DCP (Central) Viku L Achumi goes as Second-in-Command of the 28th APBn at Howly in Barpeta.

Mrinal Deka, principal of the Lachit Barphukan Police Academy, takes over as DCP (Central), and Prithwiraj Rajkhowa, Superintendent of Police of Lakhipur co-district, becomes ADCP (Central).

The six-member SIT is headed by Guwahati Joint Commissioner of Police Ankur Jain. Its other members are DCP (Crime) Debajit Nath, Paltan Bazar police station officer-in-charge Inspector Kuleshjyoti Bhuyan and Sub-Inspector Abinash Das. No order has yet been issued on who will replace Mishra and Achumi on the team.

The case so far

Hotel leaseholder Ghanakanta Gogoi, 34, is accused of opening fire with a licensed .32 pistol during a meeting with the property's owners at the hotel on GS Road. Bhudev Bharali, 65, his sister Helena, 58, her son Debarshi Kashyap, 39, daughter-in-law Rinika Kashyap, 30, and family staffer Narayan Das, 48, were killed. The family's driver, Satyendra Pathak, was injured.

Police say the Bharali family leased the hotel to Gogoi for five years in September 2025 at about Rs 1.8 lakh a month, and that disputes over the use of the premises led to Monday's meeting. Gogoi is in police custody and is due back in court on 3 November. His wife, whom police wanted to question, presented herself before police in Dhemaji on Saturday morning.

The bereaved family has said the attack was planned and has demanded exemplary punishment.

NEInsider will report any change to the SIT or new findings in the case.