TURA: The banned GNLA has accused West Garo Hills police and the Garo Students’ Union (GSU) of failing to come to the rescue of two families who bore the brunt of a mob fury in which they lost five members who were murdered in cold blood by villagers in Mrigre village, near Rongram, over allegations of practicing witchcraft.
The student body has been blamed for not heeding to the calls of help sought by the affected families even before the attacks took place, while the police have been accused of delayed response despite being alerted of the crime.
“The threat to the families was made known to the GSU much before the attacks took place but no preventive action was taken leading to the horrific episode of murder in which even a physically challenged child became a victim. The police was informed of the incident but failed to take action,” alleged the GNLA’s joint publicity secretary Garo Mandei Ch Marak in a statement to the media.
Five persons, including a fifty year old woman and a school teacher were murdered in cold blood and secretly buried in two graves by villagers at Mrigre village of Rongram block, not far fromTura.
There is anger and condemnation over the killings even as the accused villagers have allegedly tried to justify the incident by first blaming the victims of practicing witchcraft and later leveling various charges ranging from extortion to nexus with militants.
“An innocent child was murdered, an elderly woman was hacked to death, a school teacher of Oragitok village was waylaid and murdered and 19,000 taken from him. The family of teacher David Maxinear Sangma approached the GSU to help them in the face of threats to their lives but the GSU ignored the entire matter until everything was over,” accused the armed rebel group.
It also questioned the delay in police action and claimed that some villagers had alerted the Jengjal police outpost and its in-charge (I/C) shortly after the murders took place but it was allegedly overlooked.
Meanwhile, the militant group has released a letter purportedly written by the family of one of the murdered victims, head teacher David Maxinear Sangma, seeking help from the GSU.
The letter written on February 5th mentions that the teacher was murdered on January 8th by villagers of Mrigre when he had gone there to solve their family problem.
The family also goes on to add that a missing report was filed with Rongram police outpost soon after but no action was taken.
Late David Maxinear Sangma was the head teacher of the Dilma Reserve Gittim Upper Primary School in Oragitok area. A resident of Romba Adinggre village, near Rongram, he was last seen going to Mrigre village in the first week of January and his body was discovered only in the last week of February by police that began an investigation.
