Shillong ( Meghalaya), July 25 : DGP , LR Bishnoi on Tuesday said the July 24 mob attack on the Chief Minister’s office in Tura was ”pre-planned” and a ”conspiracy” was hatched to cause physical harm to Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma.
As many as 19 people including opposition TMC leader Richard Mrong Marak were arrested for their alleged involvement in the incident.
Another 26 people have been identified with the help of video footage from the incident of stone pelting and arson, he said ”Intelligence indicates that the plan of the mob was to murder the chief minister by hitting him on the head with a stone or bottles,” the DGP claimed.
”The Police tried to convenience the crowd, but when they did not listen, Lathi was charged, and ultimately the crowd dispersed after two hours. In the whole action, the Tura Police found that it was a preplanned conspiracy to attack CM Conrad Sangma physically,” he added.
The DGP said that Sangma was having a meeting with 18 representatives from the various NGOs, namely the ACHIK, AIGU, and ACHIK Youth Forum, All ACHIK Youth Welfare Society, and several other NGOs, and one senior representative from Tura, one Church Representative from Tura, and one Advocate from the Garo NGO’s, at the Mini Secretariat office in Tura.
The meeting started at 3:15 PM and continued until 5:45 PM in Tura. It was a long meeting where the discussion basically concentrated on the demands of the various NGOs.
”There were two demands, specifically the first was on making Tura the Winter Capital of Meghalaya, and the other was on the implementation of the reservation policy or roster system,” he added.
Bishnoi further said that most of the NGOs were discussing in a peaceful atmosphere when suddenly the crowd started raising slogans, following which the NGO leaders were sent outside to calm them down, but they turned violent and started pelting stones at everyone who was outside.
”They provoked the crowd to cause physical harm to the chief minister and even they insisted that they go for the extreme steps like murder, etc. These kinds of actions of the violent youth indicated that it was pre-planned and a conspiracy to cause physical harm to the chief minister,” DGP Bishnoi said.
Stating that the situation is now fully under control, the state police chief said, ”I categorically state here that we will not spare anyone whoever indulged in the violence and tried to attack the chief minister and cause damage to vehicles of government officials and that they will be put behind the bars very soon.” He said that the police are on the hunt for the conspirators and are conducting raids since Monday night. The DGP said that they have seized substantial numbers of the incriminating materials from the place of occurrence that indicates that the whole incident was pre-planned and an attempt was to attack the chief minister and cause physical harm to him.
The DGP also added that money was also distributed one day ahead of the mob attack.
Police have seized stones from the place of occurrence, 50 pieces of bamboo used as sticks to beat up the police personnel, 20 catapults, a jerrycan full of kerosene besides alcohol bottles and matchboxes.
18 police personnel including home guards and CRPF personnel were injured during the mob attack on the CMO in Tura while chief minister Conrad K Sangma was having a meeting with the representatives of the ACHIK, who were staging a hunger strike demanding implementation of a backlog policy and to declare Tura as the winter capital of the state.
As many as four vehicles have been set on fire while 17 others were damaged due to the stone pelting. The DGP said that the police had maintained restraint for a couple of hours. ”Even knowing that the mob was causing huge damage to our vehicles, police did not decide to go for firing to avoid casualty of other peaceful youth, who were there and taking part in the agitations,” he added.
Bishnoi said that after conducting a massive search, police have arrested 19 accused persons, who were identified from video footage. ”We have also identified another 26 persons, who were also involved in the incident,” he added.
Of the 19 arrested, two are members of the BJP (Mahila Morcha)n – Bellina M Marak (32) and Dilche Ch Marak (40).
The DGP added that the security cover for the chief minister will be reviewed with the Chief Secretary, Home Secretary and senior officials of the government.
With Agency and Bureau inputs
