TURA: Two suspected dacoits have been killed and another left critically injured after an angry mob of villagers attacked them at Chanangpara village under Phulbari police station on Friday morning.
The trio had been caught late Thursday night by villagers and kept captive in the house of the village nokma when news spread about their capture and an angry mob took the law into their own hands on Friday morning.
Following a string of midnight attacks by gangs of armed men in several parts of Garo Hills over the last couple of weeks particularly in the plains belt region, alert villagers of Chanangpara, 20 kms from Phulbari town in the direction of Dadenggre road, had been keeping vigil when shortly after midnight they spotted a maruti alto moving suspiciously in their village.
The vehicle was intercepted and when it was searched villagers found Daos (dagger), rods and alcohol inside.
The three occupants of the vehicle, Mokibul Islam (35) of Pushkarnipara village in Chibinang, Bita Rabha (34) and Mikseng Marak (24), both hailing from Dawagittimgre locality of Williamnagar town in East Garo Hills, were seized and kept confined under guard inside the house of the Nokma for the night.
However, word had quickly spread the next morning about the capture of the three suspected criminals and an angry mob of several hundred people soon arrived on the scene. They barged into the house at 10 AM, dragged out the three suspected criminals and began severely assaulting them. The vehicle they came in was also set ablaze in the village.
On being informed of the capture of three suspected dacoits, police from Phulbari station rushed to the village but by then the mob had already barged in and begun their attack on the trio.
Police teams managed to rush the three badly injured and unconscious persons to Phulbari hospital where doctors declared Mokibul Islam brought dead. The other grievously injured Mikseng Marak also succumbed to his injuries soon after.
The lone survivor was Bita Rabha who has been brought under police guard to Tura civil hospital in a critical condition for further medical treatment.
“We are investigating the incident and trying to ascertain if they are part of a dacoity gang. One of the deceased, Mokibul was earlier arrested in a case of abduction for ransom,” informed West Garo Hills superintendent of Police MGR Kumar who is camping in the area.
Additional forces have been deployed in the sensitive areas as preventive measures and the sub-divisional police officer of Raksamgre has been stationed at Phulbari for further supervision.
Villagers from Chanangpara do not rule out the involvement of the three suspects in a recent dacoity at nearby Rongchandalgre village where an arecanut farmer and his family were attacked at midnight by dao and rod wielding criminals who also took away sixty thousand rupees from their home.
Dacoity cases have also taken place in as many as four Roman Catholic Churches in different parts of Garo Hills, the most recent being the Dominic Savio Church in Garobadha where an armed gang assaulted a priest and an assistant and robbed one and a half lakh rupees.