TURA: The head of a criminal gang which abducted a student and shot a police constable on the Tura- Kherapara road last month has been arrested by Goalpara police following a tip off by Meghalaya police on Saturday night.
The criminal gang calling itself the A’chik National Cooperative Army (ANCA) and having in its possession a handful of pistols was led by William Marak, a resident of Dudhnoi.
Late Saturday, Goalpara police laid a trap for the wanted criminal after intelligence inputs from Meghalaya police revealed his movement along the Goalpara-Agia road. His car was intercepted by a police team and police arrested William after finding him inside the vehicle along with a few laptops and other incriminating documents.
He was taken to Agia police station for interrogation and on Sunday he was handed over to Meghalaya police.
West Garo Hills police will also be taking him into custody for the attack on an unarmed police constable and abduction of a student at 7th mile, Tura-Kherapara road.
His arrest comes after the July 29th raid on a Tura night bus entering Shillong where two other ANCA members were picked up by Shillong police during the early morning hours.
The ANCA group became infamous with the attack on a travelling police constable and his friend on the 26th of last month.
Police constable Avijeet Mazumdar (27), belonging to the 5th MLP Battalion headquartered at Samgong (Williamnagar) and deployed for security duty with a lady deputy commandant was going on leave to his home town in Dalu when he was attacked.
He was pillion riding with a friend and B.Ed student Saumendu Chakraborty (25) on the latter’s motorbike when they were overtaken by a maruti car and kidnapped at gunpoint by William and his gang at 7th mile.
The police constable tried to fight off his abductors and was shot on the shoulder and left for dead by the gang that took away Saumendu.
The injured policeman managed to survive the shooting and was rescued while his friend Saumendu was released a day later by the abductors on the Gambegre road after reportedly paying ransom.
Tura police acted swiftly and arrested the wife of William after the incident. They also recovered the vehicle used in the attack forcing the ANCA leader to flee to his native place in Dudhnoi to escape the police dragnet.
The attack came a day after Garo militants triggered a powerful IED blast at Tebronggre road, under Rongram police outpost, targeting a police patrol vehicle. Three police constables died as a result of the IED blast on that fateful day.