‘Outfit attacked migrant workers to kindle communal tension’
SHILLONG: ANVC-B cadre Salingbirth D. Sangma has revealed that by killing migrant workers from Assam, the outfit was planning to foment communal tension on the inter-state border of Meghalaya with Dhubri district of Assam.
In a statement issued here on Thursday, Meghalaya Police said that during his interrogation, Salingbirth revealed the design of the outfit in perpetrating the gruesome killings of innocent migrant workers to foment communal tension on the inter-state border.
Salingbirth, a senior leader of ANVC-B, was arrested along with 24 other cadres at Tura recently along with a large cache of arms, ammunition and other incriminating materials.
The statement from Meghalaya Police further said that the arrest of ANVC-B cadres has possibly had the salutary effect of containing wider repercussions of the situation and preventing avoidable loss of life and property.
According to the Police, these arrests were effected on the basis of credible intelligence inputs and intensive investigation about the involvement of the ANVC-B cadres into the killings and cases of extortion and murder.
Cases have been registered against the ANVC-B cadres under the Arms Act, the statement added.
Out of the 24 ANVC-B cadres, eighteen cadres have been remanded in judicial custody while six others have been detained in police custody.
The Meghalaya Police said that ANVC-B chairman Bernard N. Marak alias Rimpu did not respond to the notice for appearance issued by the investigating officer of Tura PS for recording of his statement in connection with the involvement of ANVC-B cadres into the gruesome killings.
The statement further said that the ANVC-B leadership, in a bid to disassociate itself from the heinous crimes perpetrated by the outfit, is in the habit of resorting to release of media reports to divert the attention of the general public from its own misdeeds and criminal activities.
The statement further said that Meghalaya Police stands by its commitment to professional integrity in its actions and will not hesitate to initiate punitive action against all those indulging in any criminal and unlawful activities.