TURA: The United A’chik Liberation Army has stated that the two armed men who were beaten by public at Darengre village near Tura on Saturday during a botched extortion bid were not members of their armed organization.
“There is no cadre of ours by the names of Sanjay and Bijoy Sangma. We do not encourage foreign nationals (read Bangladeshi) into our organization,” claimed UALA commander-in-chief Singbirth Marak alias Norrok X Momin in a statement to The Shillong Times on Monday evening.
One of the armed men Sanjay Ch Sangma died of his wounds at Tura civil hospital on Saturday night while the other Bijoy Ch Sangma succumbed to his injuries early Sunday morning.
The two armed men were trying to extort money from the house of a villager at Darengre village when locals caught and trashed them to pulp.
At Tura civil hospital both the ultras, who were taken in a semi-unconscious state, revealed to police their names and claimed to belong to the UALA. They also said that they were Bangladeshi nationals.
While the UALA has denied involvement in the extortion attempt at Darengre, West Garo Hills police chief Mukesh Kr Singh said that both the injured ultras had mentioned to police officials present that they were from the above mentioned group.”The two injured men told a police sub-inspector who was taking their statement at the hospital that they are from UALA and belonged to Bangladesh,” said the district SP.
Wife refuses to claim husband’s body
One of the militants who died from the mob attack at Darengre has been positively identified by his wife but she has refused to take the body for the last rites.
The wife of Sanjay Ch Sangma identified his body at the Tura civil hospital morgue on Sunday but refused to claim it on the grounds that the deceased had abandoned her for someone else sometime ago.
Both the bodies are currently lying unclaimed at the hospital morgue.