From Our Correspondent
JOWAI: In a clear-cut case of highhandedness by the men in uniforms, a team of police personnel led by Jaintia Hills Additional SP (Traffic) allegedly assaulted a coal trader and looted Rs 1.30 lakh from his possession at Amlarem on Wednesday night.
The coal trader, one Larmon Tariang (35) of Jarain in Amlarem Subdivision, alleged that Additional SP (Traffic), Nazarius Lamare (also the SDPO, Amlarem Civil Subdivision) took away Rs 1.30 lakh and his mobile phone after badly assaulting him when he failed to pay the money demanded by the policemen.
Tariang, who on Thursday, filed an FIR against Lamare, informed that he was returning from Tamabil along with four of his trucks when the personnel stopped his vehicles at the police check point and demanded Rs 500 for each of his truck.
When he refused to pay the amount, the personnel punched and kicked him and hit him with their weapons on his head. They later took him to Amlarem PS and lock him up. He was allowed to go home only on Thursday morning, after which he had to be shifted to a hospital in Shillong for treatment.
“They returned the mobile to my wife who went to meet them on Thursday morning,” he added.
However, the Officer in-Charge, Amlarem PS informed that his men were not present at the check point since they along with his senior officer were checking overloading coal trucks transporting coal to Tamabil.
Interestingly, there is no entry about Tariang’s arrest in the Police General Diary.
When contacted, the Additional SP denied all allegations against him, saying that there were five armed personnel deputed at the check point under his supervision but he was not present at the time when the incident took place.
He also stated that on learning of the incident, he made some inquiries and he was informed that a coal trader had been assaulted by one of the personnel on duty.
“The incident occurred after I had left for dinner. I was not present at the spot during the incident,” he stated, while adding that the allegations against him were baseless.
Meanwhile, local people in the area including the JHADC Chief Executive member, Lamdibok Sumer, have strongly condemned the incident.