Jaintia Hills villages clash over ‘fete’
From Our Correspondent
JOWAI: One person was killed while six police personnel were injured, some of them seriously, in a mob clash between groups of villagers from two different villages at Shkenpyrsit village under Amlarem Sub-Division in Jaintia Hills district on Friday night.
The deceased was identified as Justline Kyndiap (Dkhar), 18, of Mupyut village.
Sources informed that the clash took place when a group of hooligans from Mupyut village allegedly tried to sabotage a fete organized at Shkenpyrsit village on Friday.
Both Shkenpyrsit and Mupyut had sought permission from the Sub-Divisional Officer, Amlarem to organize a fete on the same day in their respective villages, which was later awarded to Shkenpyrsit village.
Sources informed that some villagers from Mupyut village stirred some trouble at the venue of the fete, prompting the village headman, Tol Kyndait, to inform Amlarem Police.
According to Jaintia Hills Superintendent of Police, O Pasi, when a Police team arrived at the spot, the mob attacked the cops with logs, stones and beer bottles, injuring six policemen, four of them seriously.
The mob also seized an INSAS rifle from a police constable, Perilis Sangma, who felt unconscious after being hit on the head with a beer bottle.
The rifle was recovered from a road side at Mupyut on Saturday morning.
While searching for the snatched police weapon, the police team reached Mupyut village at around 11:30 pm where they heard fire shots and later recovered the body of the youth from the road side.
However, autopsy on the body, later, revealed that the youth had died after being stabbed with a sharp weapon and there was no bullet mark on his body.
The cause of the death could not be ascertained at first as the X-Ray machine at the Jowai Civil Hospital was non-functional, following which the body was shifted to Shillong Civil Hospital where the autopsy was conducted on Saturday.
Meanwhile, Pasi informed that at the time of the incident, the power supply was out at Mupyut village.
Pasi also informed that the rifle had been snatched by one Paul Pde of Mupyut.
Police came to learn of Pde after his sister spotted the rifle and informed the Mupyut headman, Crosswell Khyriem, who in turn informed the police.
A police team has been kept on patrol duty on Saturday night, Pasi informed, while adding that they have identified the person who snatched the gun but no one has been arrested so far.