SHILLONG, July 24: The police on Monday stated that the demand notes purportedly served by the Hynniewtrep National Liberation Council (HNLC) were fake.
A section of the media had reported that the outfit served extortion notes to several tribal and non-tribal businesspersons while pursuing the tripartite talks with the Centre and the state government.
East Khasi Hills SP, Sylvester Nongtnger told reporters that the so-called area collector of the outfit for East Khasi Hills and Ri-Bhoi, Synshar Khymdeit met SP (City), Vivek Syiem and denied any knowledge about the demand note.
“He (Khymdeit) said he would file an FIR in this connection, showing the demand notes reported about are fake,” Nongtnger said.
The HNLC claimed some miscreants had served the demand notes and those who signed them were in no way connected to the HNLC.
“This is a serious matter and the HNLC warns anybody using the outfit’s name for extortion. The HNLC will be compelled to take action against those found involved as it taints the ongoing peace talks,” HNLC’s general secretary cum publicity secretary, Sainkupar Nongtraw said in a statement.
“Such cases had also surfaced in the past. As the peace talks are progressing, it could also be a ploy to derail the entire process by people having vested interests,” he added.
Nongtraw said none of the parties engaged in the tripartite talks has signed any agreement and there are no attempts to create any hurdles.
“The law enforcement agencies should take up the matter seriously, get to the source of the fake letterhead and arrest the culprits for enabling a peaceful atmosphere for the peace talks to proceed. We are also assigning our own intelligence wing to find the two persons involved – Synshar Khymdeit and Samuel Wahlang,” he said.
Nongtraw said people can donate to the HNLC pending the finalisation of the peace process.
The demand notes served carried either the signature of the outfit’s general secretary, M. Rynjah or the local area commander. They threatened the businesspersons targeted with military action if they failed to cough up Rs 15-80 lakh.
