Lawyer cries foul over arrest of former Umroi legislator Stanlywiss
SHILLONG: The Court of District and Sessions Judge on Wednesday allowed the relatives of former Congress MLA Stanlywiss Rymbai to meet him at Civil Hospital after they were denied entry into the hospital for the past few days.
The counsel of Rymbai, VGK Kynta, had on Tuesday moved a petition before the Court citing violations of the rights of Rymbai and subsequently the plea of the relatives to meet Rymbai was granted.
Kynta separately met Rymbai, who informed the counsel that though he is in judicial custody, he is still being interrogated by the police.
The counsel had earlier said there was no need to arrest Rymbai since he was cooperating with the police.
Speaking to reporters, Kynta said though earlier the East Khasi Hills SP gave permission to the relatives to meet Rymbai, it was later disallowed by higher officials at the instance of Investigating Officer P.S Paul Choudhury from the CID.
Kynta said he had also advised the family members of Rymbai to file a fresh petition against the illegality and also to lodge complaints with the human rights commission.
On January 25 evening, the CID had arrested the former Umroi legislator. Rymbai had taken Rs 8 crore from the Forest and Environment Department for land acquisition for afforestation at Mawpalai in Ri Bhoi though the land was already in the possession of the Soil and Water Conservation Department.
However, Kynta said the village Dorbar of Umsaw Khwan, which is the owner of the village forest known as Mawpalai plantation, had given the area to the Soil and Water Conservation Department of the erstwhile Assam government for a few years.
After the formation of Meghalaya, a claim was made by the village to return the land and in 1994-95, a meeting was convened by the then cabinet minister Henry Lamin along with the department officials concerned, including K.S Kropha in the capacity of secretary to the department, on the need to return the land.
According to Kynta, after the land was treated as the property of the Umsaw Khwan Dorbar, the Forest Department wanted to formally acquire the land from the village Dorbar in 2009.
In 2011, acquisition proceedings were started by the district collector and the acquisition award was estimated to be over Rs 15 crore.
However, the government decided to give Rs 10 crore with installment of 80 percent (Rs 8 crore) first and the remaining at a later stage.
The role of Rymbai was to act as a power of attorney and hand over Rs 8 crore to the villagers.
Kynta said after the remaining amount of Rs 2 crore was not paid, the Dorbar filed a writ petition in the High Court.
The lawyer claimed that the Forest Department filed an FIR on December 11, 2012, which was registered by the CID. The FIR had also named some officials of the forest department.
However, the petition was disposed of by the Court, which also passed a direction that in case there is any fraud, a suit for recovery of money can be filed.
Taking a cue from the order of the High Court, the Government filed a money suit to recover Rs 8 crore and the suit, however, was dismissed. The Government has not filed any appeal till date.
Kynta said the villagers are facing harassment over the issue.