By Our Reporter
SHILLONG: Two days after his arrest, HANM president Lamphrang Kharbani claimed that the allegation that he had bought the pistol from highway robbers was an attempt to tarnish his image.
According to him, these people who actually are highway robbers had come to him to ask for a loan of Rs 1.20 lakh.
“I gave them the amount since they approached me through one person whom I know. I never knew they were highway robbers,” Kharbani said on Friday.
“They forced me to keep the pistol as surety for the loan,” he said.
He further said that if he really wanted arms then he would have got a license for it.
Earlier, East Khasi Hills Additional Superintendent of Police (Crime) Vivek Syiem had stated that Kharbani had purchased the firearm for Rs 40,000 from one Pynshai Rani, a history-sheeter.