SHILLONG: Meghalaya Police on Wednesday ordered an inquiry into the death of 14 labourers in East Jaintia Hills even as fresh post-mortem examination of all the bodies was conducted in Assam.
IGP A. Sunn has been directed to conduct an inquiry into the incident, a statement issued by the Meghalaya police on Wednesday said, adding that the case is under investigation from all angles.
Narrating the incident, the police said that on April 6 one Victor Suja of Lamarsiang Village informed the Officer In-Charge of Saipung Police Station in East Jaintia Hills that the 14 road construction labourers, who were working for him at Umphum, around 15 km deep in the interior area, were found dead at around 8.30 am at the labour camp.
One Kynshew Marwein, the driver of the construction company, who first visited the labour camp noticed that the labourers were dead on their beds with blood and froth oozing out from their mouth, nose and ears.
Saipung Police registered a case under Section 174 CrPC and took up investigation.
The Officer In-Charge of Saipung PS along with Victor Suja who is a sub-contractor of the road construction visited the make shift camp.
During preliminary investigation by the police, some unknown wild fruit locally known as Soh Khuaitur were found in their kitchen and a portion of the same fruit crushed and mixed with onion and chilly was also noticed.
According to police, it is suspected that the labourers might have consumed the same on the previous night during their dinner, which probably lead to their death.
“The symptoms noticed on the bodies of the deceased were similar to that of a case of food poisoning, and the police found no external injury marks on their bodies”, the statement added.
Inquest was conducted on the spot and all the bodies were shifted to Khliehriat CHC for post mortem.
Moreover, the leftover chutney was seized along with the available wild fruit by the police for forensic analysis by an expert. Photographs of the dead bodies were taken at the place of occurrence.
On April 7, post mortem was conducted at Khliehriat CHC in the presence of a Magistrate and the entire proceeding was videographed. All the bodies have been identified by their respective family members and were handed over.
Assam Police personnel who came with the relatives escorted the bodies to their respective places. Viscera of the deceased were preserved by the doctors who conducted the post mortem for chemical analysis by the forensic experts.
Police said that post mortem reports are awaited.
According to police, new road construction was taking place at Umphum where there is no village and the place is only covered with jungle and the main contractor is Wendarly Marwien from Kynshi, West Khasi Hills. He had sub-contracted the work to Victor Suja from Lamarsiang, East Jaintia Hills.
Three labour camps had been set up after every 2 to 3 km stretch to house the labourers. The incident occurred in the second camp where there were a total of 14 labourers.
According to police, the name of the wild fruit as it is locally known by the Biate tribe is Khuaitur and the bark of the tree is used for poisoning fishes in the river by the Biate tribe.
