TURA, Oct 29: The final inquiry report by the Returning Officer’s probe team into the Rajabala group clash on Wednesday has endorsed the preliminary report implicating the Congress supporters for violating the rules and staging a procession that appeared to be a ‘pre-planned’ motive.
The final report was submitted to the Chief Election Officer by the Returning Officer for Rajabala on Friday.
“The final report has been submitted after taking into account all aspects including video evidence and statements of the victims including the wife and family members of the gaonbura (headman) whose house was attacked with stone pelting,” Returning Officer CN Sangma said.
The report mentions that the NPP worker and Garodubi headman, Hasan Ali, was not present in his house when the stone pelting occurred and only his wife, children and other family members were inside. “Hasan Ali’s wife has given a statement that her husband was away from home when the incident happened,” the final report states.
In a sharp reprimand to the Congress supporters, the inquiry report does not rule out the attack to be a “pre-planned” move as it mentions that the perpetrators appear to be gotten their hands on a large amount of stones from elsewhere.
“The report mentions there were no stones in the vicinity of the house at the time of the attack. It does not rule out a pre-planned motive since a very large amount of stones were used to target the house,” the returning officer states in the report.
The report further collaborates with that of the preliminary findings — which is that the Congress supporters violated election rules by staging a procession despite it being banned from doing so.
The Congress and the NPP have blamed each other for the group clash that resulted in 21 people sustaining injuries and damage to property.
The Congress says the clash occurred after NPP supporters attacked their people who were returning from a public meeting at Rajabala town.
The NPP has accuses the Congress of trying to shift the blame and alleges hordes of supporters from the rival party deliberately targeted their worker’s home after staging an illegal procession.
Police have so far arrested three supporters of the Congress who have now been sent to judicial custody by a court in Tura.
At the same time, the District Election Officer has ordered a magisterial probe which is being headed by Dadenggre Civil Sub-Divisional Officer, Jagdish Chellani.