‘Abducted coal dealer taken to Bangladesh’
TURA/SHILONG: North Garo Hills police have found a highly decomposed body partially buried in a shallow grave which is believed to be that of kidnapped police constable Khomraj Bhattarai in Tapa Darengchi area on Saturday bringing to an end more than a month of suspense about the fate of the unarmed policeman who was returning to his duty after availing a home leave when armed GNLA militants stopped the commercial winger vehicle he was travelling on and took him away.
Police search teams combing the dense forests of Tapa Darengchi came across the shallow grave and spotted the decomposed body partially buried at an isolated spot located 2 kms away from the nearest village in the area called Rongdanggre in the Tapa Darengchi region.
The body of Bhattarai is believed to have been identified from the civilian clothes he was wearing at the time of his abduction.
The remains have been brought to Mendipather government hospital for a post-mortem and family members of the slain policeman are already on their way to Mendipathar from Shillong.
The highly decomposed condition of the body has also indicated that the militants executed him shortly after he was taken captive and hurriedly buried his remains before police began the combing operations to trace him out.
The GNLA had tried to distance itself from the incident by issuing a press statement soon after the kidnapping blaming other groups and criminal gangs for the abduction. Despite their denial, police had identified area commander Pilliport D Shira’s group to be the mastermind of the kidnapping and subsequent execution of the unarmed policeman.
For more than a month since his kidnapping police teams had been combing the region to try and locate him. Khomraj Bhattarai was travelling in a public transport winger vehicle with other passengers on the morning of November 6th when GNLA militants stopped them at Tapa Darengchi, 16 kms from Mendipather town, at 7 AM.
They dragged away Bhattarai and the handyman of the winger, Muslo Hussain, who happened to drive the vehicle on that day.
Bhattarai was a head constable (Havildar) in the 6th MLP battalion and was going to his place of posting in Songsak to resume his duties when he was taken away.
The handyman, who was separated from Bhattarai soon after the abduction, was released unharmed twenty days later.
After more than a month of combing operations that drew a blank, a new operation was launched in a specific area of Tapa Darengchi at the beginning of this week.
Meghalaya police is learnt to have received credible information about the whereabouts of Bhattarai’s body and a fresh impetus was made in which police search teams camped for three long days and nights inside the dense forests before successfully locating the shallow grave on Saturday.
The manner in which GNLA militants had executed Khomraj Bhattarai and dumped his body in a shallow grave is similar to another cold blooded killing orchestrated by Garo militants in South Garo Hills, this year.
ASAK militants stopped a public sumo coming from remote Rongara village to district headquarters Baghmara at Panda reserve forest on the morning of September 24th and kidnapped central intelligence officer Bikash Kumar Singh and cloth merchant Kamal Saha.
The militants took both their captives to the forests of Bolchugre village near Dambuk Aga and bludgeoned them to death with a lethal weapon on the same day. They later dumped both bodies in a single shallow grave. The highly decomposed bodies of the two victims were recovered on October 24th.
Coal dealer abducted: Meanwhile, the 69-year-old coal dealer Dinarsing Syiemlieh has not been abducted by militants but by a mixed groups of dacoits.
Informing this here on Saturday, South West Khasi Hills SP Raghavendra Kumar said that in most probability, he has been taken to Bangladesh and the district police is coordinating with BSF and even the BGB to trace out the victim.
Stating that the businessman suffers from diabetes, police is taking all safety measures in its operations to rescue him.
Pressure groups, traditional chiefs and residents of South West Khasi Hills district on Thursday asked that the “Garo rebels”, who had abducted the Khasi coal businessman to release him unconditionally within 48 hours even as they warned that the situation may lead to communal tension between the two communities.
According to SP, two public meetings were held at Mawkyrwat and Ranikor on Saturday which were attended by NGOs, public and local institutions.
“During the meeting we explained under which circumstances we are working to rescue the businessman,” he said, while adding that the members who attended the meeting expressed solidarity and extended their support to the police to rescue the businessman.
In the meeting, people were also urged to ensure peace and harmony and extend support to the police in the operations.
He also said that the police is keeping a vigil to ensure that peace and tranquility is maintained in the district.
Syiemlieh, was abducted from Kolagoan coal depot near Umsur in Borsora area.
The incident took place on December 3, just after two Khasi labourers were abducted and later rescued by police.