Guwahati, Dec 20: Congress leader Mridul Islam, who lost his life during a Raj Bhavan chalo protest programme of the Congress yesterday, apparently died of "coronary insufficiency".

Islam, aged 45 years, hailed from Boko in Kamrup district, was actively involved in the protest programme of Congress in front of the Raj Bhavan on Wednesday. But he suddenly fell sick after police used tear gas against the protestors and died on the way to hospital.

His autopsy was carried out at Gauhati Medical College and Hospital (GMCH)  and according to the autopsy report, "The deceased had blocks in coronary arteries. The heart chambers were narrowed. Ventricular walls were too much thickened. Ultimately, he died of chronic coronary insufficiency. Probably he was not aware of his cardiac condition or ignored it."

The autopsy also found that Islam had chronic pneumonia, which also affected his health condition.

However, the viscera have been sent to the Directorate of Forensic Sciences, Kahilipra for chemical analysis and the lungs have been sent to the Department of Pathology for Histopathological examination.

"Although the cause is almost confirmed to be cardiac arrest, we will be able to opine finally after receiving reports from DFSL and Pathology Department of GMCH," said the doctors on condition of anonymity.

The Congress and Opposition parties have hit out against the Government for the death of Islam, who was also an advocate of the Gauhati High Court and termed that Islam was actually "murdered" by the Government. Opposition parties are protesting against the Government today, while, a few journalists, who were affected by tear gas underwent treatment on Thursday as well.

However, police sources said that the use of tear gas was to control the situation, which was getting out of hand. It is a common practice and till date, there is no record of anyone losing his or her life after inhaling tear gas. There is also an allegation that expired tear gas canisters were used, which resulted in the deterioration of the health condition of a number of persons. But Guwahati Police Commissioner Diganta Barah strongly refuted the allegation and said that police do not use expired stock. He said that all expired stocks are destroyed from time to time and new stocks are kept for use.

By-
R Dutta Choudhury