Four Assam police officers were suspended after an ambulance carrying a critically ill patient was stopped in Silchar to clear the route for Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma’s convoy, according to a report by the Times of India. The action came a day after the incident and coincided with the death of the 47-year-old patient, Rasaraj Chakraborty, at Silchar Medical College and Hospital.
The ambulance was transporting Chakraborty, who was suffering from cirrhosis and a critical liver ailment, when it was halted for about four minutes near Ramnagar ISBT in Silchar, south Assam. Police personnel managing traffic in the area had stopped the vehicle while arrangements were being made for the chief minister’s convoy to pass.
Sarma ordered an inquiry after a video purportedly showing the ambulance waiting for the convoy circulated on social media. He publicly apologised to the patient’s family and described the incident as an “unacceptable” violation of his standing instruction that ordinary citizens should not be inconvenienced for VIP movement.
“Emergency medical care must take precedence over VIP movement,” Sarma said. He added that ambulances and other emergency vehicles must not be impeded under any circumstances because of convoy arrangements, and directed that the guidelines governing convoy movement be implemented “in letter and spirit”.
The suspension order followed the chief minister’s intervention. The report did not identify the four officers by name or specify the precise disciplinary provisions invoked against them. It also did not indicate whether the inquiry had established that the brief halt affected the patient’s medical outcome.
While condoling Chakraborty’s death, Sarma said the patient’s death was not connected to the ambulance being stopped. He said Chakraborty had been suffering from a critical liver ailment and described the death as an unfortunate culmination of the disease. The chief minister made the statement while speaking to reporters in Nagaon.
The incident has placed emergency vehicle priority at the centre of convoy traffic management in Assam. Ambulances depend on uninterrupted passage through urban roads, particularly when police diversions or temporary route closures are imposed for movements by senior officials. The case also raises questions about how standing instructions are communicated to personnel on the ground and how traffic-control decisions are monitored during VIP movement.
Chakraborty’s wife said the family had lost its sole breadwinner and appealed to the chief minister for assistance. She said he left behind two children and urged the government to help the family manage after his death.
Sarma reiterated that anyone occupying the chief minister’s office was “merely a chief servant” and said there was no place for VIP culture in a “new Assam”. The inquiry into the incident and the implementation of the convoy guidelines are the next official steps identified in the report.
