SHILLONG: After the mix-up victim Rusith Sangma went missing, the Division Bench of the High Court on Tuesday wanted his siblings to be the respondents in the case.
During the hearing on the PIL moved by senior advocate S.P Mahanta, the court said having regard to the circumstances of the case and the issues raised, the siblings of the missing person namely, “Thomas D. Sangma and Chomoni D. Sangma, said to be the residents of Gulpani Songmong, Rongara, South Garo Hills, are ordered to be joined as respondents in the writ petition”, the court said.
The court also asked the government advocate to produce the original file related to the inquiry report prepared by the police last December 12, and the case diary concerning the FIR lodged by the siblings of the missing person in the court in the next hearing.
The matter will come up for hearing after four weeks.
It was some time in 1994 that Rusith was replaced by the jail staff with Deepcharan Kaipeng, an accused in a murder case, who either died in custody or escaped from Shillong jail.
After the mix-up was detected and it was proved that Rusith not Deepcharan, the lower court in 2001 had asked the police to find out Deepcharan and Rusith was handed over to his brother Thomas.
However, it was known in November last year that Rusith went missing, according to Thomas under whose care Rusith was to live.
