By Our Reporter
SHILLONG, July 11: In an incident unparalleled in the annals of the state, Cabinet Minister Ampareen Lyngdoh was attacked by a machete-wielding assailant inside her residence at around 7.15 pm on Tuesday. Though the attacker was subdued and arrested, the unprecedented incident of an attack on a cabinet minister speaks volumes about the total collapse of the law-and-order machinery in the state.
The attack was carried out by a Kharmalki resident identified as Teibor Lyting, 46.
A shell-shocked Ampareen, while narrating the incident, said, “I was in a zoom meeting with farmers and as soon as that finished, I heard crashing sound in my bedroom. I asked my people what happened and by that time my daughter’s room was attacked with stones.
“By the time we figured out what was happening, the window panes were shattered,” she said.
Lyngdoh said she rushed out of her house with her husband and other family members when two students pointed out to the direction where the attacker had escaped.
“I told my husband and my staff to check the CCTV footage. I checked on my aunt and she was fine. I went out and my husband, my son and driver spread out in different directions because they had identified the attacker,” she said.
“While they were out, suddenly one person came and attacked me. I screamed and my husband and son came running back. The attacker was holding a dao (machete) and that was when my husband shouted that he has got a huge Khasi knife and they pinned him down,” Ampareen said.
Since they had already informed the East Khasi Hills Superintendent of Police about the stone-pelting incident, a police team arrived at the spot and nabbed the assailant.
Asked what could be the possible reason behind the attack, she said, “There are some people who will do anything, even harm me. I am a little shaken but I am okay.”.
Asked if the assailant was known to her, she said the same person had attacked her before the elections, but she had not taken it seriously then.
Meanwhile, police said they are investigating whether the assailant acted on his own or if he had any accomplice. They said the attacker was taken for a medical examination and it was ascertained that he had consumed alcohol.
An FIR has been registered, they added.