SHILLONG: Police took the statement of NPP leader Nidamon Chullet, the accused in the assault of activists Agnes Kharshiing and Amita Sangma under the relevant CrPC clauses and treated him as witness prompting the High Court to seek explanation on the matter.
The pending petition of Amita seeking CBI probe into the assault case came up for hearing on Wednesday.
The investigation officer, Gilbert AL Marshillong filed a status report before the court.
Para six of the status report alleged that the NGO leader Michael Biam put pressure on Nidamon to pay Rs 20 lakh to Biam and another Rs 5 lakh to Agnes.
According to Chief Justice Mohammad Yaqoob Mir, the paragraph six of the status report is required to be explained by investigating officer as to how and what circumstances he got the statement of the accused first under Section 161 of the CrPC and then under Section 164.
Section 161 is the statement of the witness before the police and 164 is before the magistrate.
As far as the probe is concerned, the advocate general submitted that the investigation of the case will be completed as early as possible and the investigating officer will submit a detailed explanation as to how he got the statement of the accused under sections 161 and 164 of CrPC.
The matter will come up for hearing after 10 days.
The para 6 of the status report said the statement was made by the accused under section 161 of CrPC on December 26 and 164 section on January 15.
Extortion excuse
According to the status report of the investigation officer, Nidamon had filed an FIR against Michael Biam for illegal collection of money from goods and clinker carrier trucks at Kongong along NH-6.
Nidamon claimed that Biam had asked for money for the organisation called North East Indigenous People Federation.
According to Nidamon, Biam also informed that since Nidamon filed FIR against him, Nidamon should immediately withdraw the FIR and for which he has to arrange Rs 20 lakh for himself and Rs 5 lakh for Agnes.
However, dealing with the case said the intention of the police is to derail the process of a fair investigation and help the accused.
Activists react
When contacted, Agnes said she was surprised over the statement of Nidamon and added that she did not even know Biam.
“What a story cooked up by NPP member Nidamon. We had named him as one of the attackers, yet police are cooking up a story to protect him”, she said.
Strangely, police have not added section 120/B IPC which deals with criminal conspiracy to commit an offence punishable with death, Agnes said.
Amita Sangma said this is a clear cut manipulation to deviate from a proper probe.
“It is a ploy to protect the NPP leader Nidamon and police are helping the accused”, she added.
Curiously, the para 8 of the status report of the investigation officer said that the statement of Biam was taken under section 161 of CrPC to verify the authenticity of allegation by Nidamon.
However, the investigation officer did not make it clear what was the response of Biam.
The status report went to extent of saying that the incident may be connected with extortion racket.
