Garo Hills police arrest GNLA cadre from Purakhasia
TURA: Garo Hills police claim to have made a breakthrough into the killing of three persons, including two women, in Garodoba village, two weeks ago, following the arrest of a GNLA militant from Purakhasia village on Saturday afternoon.
A police team nabbed GNLA cadre David Ch Momin alias Bilchang (29) resident of Gasuapara border village on Saturday afternoon. He was picked up from Purakhasia village while he was reportedly serving demand notes on businessmen and traders.
Police recovered a pistol with five live rounds of ammunition from his possession. He is said to belong to the Western command under senior GNLA militant leader Jackfruit Momin alias Jack who recently took over the militant command structure from former cop turned ultra Savio Marak.
Police claim that Jackfruit Momin was behind a string of kidnappings in the western belt including the high profile abduction of magistrate cum Dadenggre BDO PK Boro in 2011.
“The arrest of David alias Bilchang will provide leads into the attack on Garodoba village where three persons, including two women, were shot dead on September 16. The arrested militant was part of the group behind the attacks,” West Garo Hills district SP Mukesh Kr Singh told The Shillong Times.
On that fateful night, two armed men walked up to the house of Ganandra Hajong at Garodoba village, 6 kms from Garobadha, shortly after 1:30 am in the morning, and called out to the inmates of the house. When they failed to open the door the armed men opened fire from AK rifles pumping several rounds into the walls and door of the house. The mother of the house, Sridina A Sangma, who was standing behind the door was hit by a bullet and killed while her 14-year-old daughter Jetika Hajong sustained a bullet injury on her leg.
As the shootings began villagers started shouting and raised an alarm during which time the armed men fled from the scene and went straight to another house from where they forced their way in and picked up two young boys.
The assailants threatened the boys to show the direction to another house belonging to Anirud Hajong. The same murderers then ordered the family members of Anirud out of the house and shot him dead from close range. Seeing the murder taking place a woman from the house, identified as Chandrabala Hajong (35) tried to fight off the attackers and she was also shot and injured. She died of her injuries later.
“Eyewitness accounts say that the killers were drunk and had no remorse whatsoever when they attacked the unarmed villagers,” revealed South West Garo Hills district SP R Muthu while speaking to The Shillong Times.
Police allege that the GNLA had demanded five lakh rupees each from the families of the two victims sometime ago. The victims had reportedly paid some amount to the armed group but that failed to deter the killers from the gruesome murders.