Dibrugarh, May 23: The five junior doctors who led the assault on two attendants accompanying a child patient to Assam Medical College and Hospital last weekend are “absconding”, police said today.

“The five junior doctors who were served notices to appear before us for questioning did not do so. We sent two reminders to the college administration, and they said the students were instructed to report to the police. But as the junior doctors did not turn up, we have declared them ‘absconders’ and a massive manhunt has been launched to nab them,” a police official said.

The Dibrugarh district administration, which completed its magisterial inquiry into the incident today, has forwarded the report to the state government.

Banks and business establishments remained closed and very few vehicles were on the streets today because of a 12-hour bandh called by several organisations to protest against the incident.

“The doctors failed to appear before the magistrate even after repeated notices and, therefore, the administration was left with no option but to suggest serious action against them,” a source in the administration said.

“The administration is committed to ensure that discipline is maintained on the campus,” Dibrugarh deputy commissioner Ashutosh Agnihotri said.

Dibrugarh Sadar police chief Sisir Baruah, who is the investigating officer in the case, said teams were trying to trace the junior doctors. “We have sent messages to their respective residences and urged their family members to help us in our probe,” Baruah said.

Sources in the AMCH revealed that the five accused had fled Dibrugarh and were trying to get anticipatory bail from Gauhati High Court.

State health minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had earlier ordered the immediate transfer of the principal-cum-chief superintendent Debojit Hazarika for his failure to maintain administrative norms at the region’s oldest health institution. He has been replaced by T.R. Borbora, the principal of Barpeta Medical College.