INDIA TEA ESTATE OWNER AND WIFE BURNED TO DEATH BY WORKERS

A tea plantation owner and his wife were burnt to death as angry workers set their house ablaze after a labour dispute in the North-Eastern Indian State of Assam, police said on Thursday.

At least 700 workers surrounded the house of Mridul Kumar Bhattacharya in Assam State late Wednesday and set it on fire, the state's Police Inspector General SN Singh said.

The incident followed the arrest of two workers on a complaint by Bhattacharya during an eviction dispute and came after two weeks of labour unrest at the estate in Tinsukia district, police said.

 Bhattacharya had two years ago faced protests at a tea estate he owned in Kamrup District, the IANS news agency reported.

The angry workers set fire to the Rani Tea Estate factory after Bhattacharya shot at protesters gathered outside his home.

He was charged but later released on bail after a teenage boy died of his wounds after the shooting, police said.

India is second only to China in the production of tea. Half of its production comes from Assam's more than 800 tea gardens.