Shillong (Meghalaya ), Aug 13 :Meghalaya police on Friday confirmed death of the dreaded 54-year-old militant Chesterfield Thangkhiew, in an encounter with the police in Shillong in the early hours of Friday.
According to the officials, his home was raided in connection with a series of blasts across the state recently.
The deceased was the former general secretary of the banned Hynniewtrep National Liberation Council (HNLC), who had surrendered before Deputy Chief Minister Prestone Tynsong in 2018.
In a press -release ,police said that a team had gone to arrest Cherishterfield Thangkhiew and his associates.
However, when the police team tried to enter inside his house in Kynton Massar here,the surrendered cadre attacked the team with a knife as an attempt to escape.
The police team exerting the right to private defense. fired a single round which hit the surrendered cadre. He was immediately rushed to Civil Hospital here for medical assistance succumbed to his injuries.
The statement further said that in connection with the cases registered in East Khasi Hills District and East Jaintia Hills District regarding the IED explosion, thorough investigations were carried out .
Two of his associates were also taken into custody for interrogation and the police seized a firearm, digital documents in his laptop and mobile phones.
The HNLC has already taken the responsibility of the IED blast behind a crowded market in Laithumkhrah on Tuesday in which two persons were injured.
Last month, a high-intensity IED went off at a police barrack in Khliehriat, injuring one police personnel and damaging buildings.
Thangkhiew is suspected to be the mastermind of the sporadic IED attacks across the state since his surrender.
Thangkhiew had made Bangladesh his home after fleeing the country in 2004. A founding member of the militant group, he was in the post of its general secretary till his surrender in 2018.
He was also a founding member of the erstwhile Hynniewtrep Achik Liberation Council (HALC), the first armed organisation in the state in 1987. The HNLC was formed in 1997 and subsequently declared banned by the Union Home Ministry.
