Dacoits behind attack on Nokma
From Our Correspondent
TURA: The finger of suspicion on the audacious attack on Jeldupara village Nokma Greaterson R Marak on Wednesday night has been put on dacoits operating in the area with even the Garo militant group GNLA denying any hand in the incident.
The nokma, who was initially passed off as dead following the shooting, miraculously survived the attack and is currently undergoing treatment at the intensive care at Tura Civil Hospital where doctors operated on him to extract a bullet lodged inside his stomach. The ‘political secretary’ of GNLA, Bikdot Nikjang Marak, called up press persons to deny any involvement in the attack on the nokma.
“We have no interest to target nokmas nor do we have any involvement in the attack. Our Dadenggre area commander Tosol have briefed us about the blame game put on us,” Marak claimed.
The angle of involvement by dacoits appears to be gaining ground with even villagers revealing that the mixed group of attackers did not possess any sophisticated arms but were basically armed with home-made pistols and had targeted the nokma over the sale of 300 acres of land recently.
“It was a clear case of dacoity in which they planned to rob the Nokma of the money from the land transaction deal,” said some of the villagers.
Preliminary investigation by police had squarely blamed the GNLA militant group but the outfit is believed not to have any command structure in West Garo Hills, particularly in the plain belt region where the minority immigrants dominate the scenario and where Jeldupara village is also located.