On April 24, 1996, Mahendra Nath Das alias Gobinda Das murdered Hara Kanta Das, who was having tea at a stall, and cut off his right hand before severing the head of the victim. According to the prosecution "with the head of the deceased in one hand and the blood dripping weapon in the other, he moved majestically towards a nearby police post."

The sessions court at Guwahati sentenced the accused to death and the High Court confirmed the conviction and the sentence passed by the trial court. Rejecting Das's appeal against the sentence, a Division Bench of the apex court said the circumstances of the case unmistakably show that the murder committed was extremely gruesome, heinous, cold-blooded and cruel.

The Bench said in its view the way the accused severed the head of the victim andcarried it to the police station with the weapon depicts "extreme depravity on his part". The leniency pleaded by the counsel on award of sentence to the accused on the ground that he was only 33-years old and had three unmarried sisters did not find any favour from the apex court.