Petrol pump staff escapes from militants’ custody

SHILLONG: The manager of a petrol pump owned by Parliamentary Secretary Rophul Marak escaped from the custody of a faction of GNLA militants while the whereabouts of another staff who also escaped, is still unknown.
It was on November 23 that two employees of the petrol pump in South Garo Hills were abducted by militants.
The manager of the fuel station, identified as Sunil Kumar Roy from Rajasthan, and another employee, Rohit Kumar Sharma from Bihar, were abducted from Rongkandi in Nongalbibra. The petrol pump is owned by the Rongara-Siju MLA.
The escape of the petrol pump staff was following an encounter by the police with a faction of GNLA led by its leader known as Matchlang in East Garo Hills on the night of November 25.
According to police, the encounter took place when Matchlang was on his way to meet GNLA chief Sohan D Shira for re-unification.
The encounter resulted in the killing of a GNLA cadre identified as Ruga T Sangma and this promoted the manager and another staff of the petrol pump to escape from the custody of the GNLA faction.
South Garo Hills SP Anand Mishra said that while the manager Sunil reported to the police after his escape, the whereabouts of Rohit is not known as he has not reported to the police.
There is a possibility that he may have reached his home state, police added.