SHILLONG, July 28: Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma on Friday said the government would decide on the next step after receiving the initial police report on the Tura violence.
Insisting it is not right to blame the police for what happened on the night he held a meeting with some NGO leaders on the winter capital and job quota issues, the CM said the security personnel did their duty in protecting him and other people inside the CM’s secretariat. Only time will tell who the troublemakers are, Sangma said.
Taking a swipe at his predecessor, the CM further said the demand of the Meghalaya unit of the Trinamool Congress (TMC) to suspend the DGP and SP of West Garo Hills over the Tura violence is unwarranted.
“Every action taken is based on evidence, and it so happens that certain individuals are linked to certain political parties. But as I said, the arrests were made not because they belong to a certain party but because they have been exposed,” Sangma said.
He said every single person picked up or arrested is on video, repeatedly instigating the people with very strong languages.
“People were instigated on Facebook and other social media platforms and the investigation has found that they were acting at the behest of their political masters,” the CM added.
On whether the incident was pre-planned as stated by the DGP, Sangma said a detailed report would be submitted after an inquiry.
“The report will give us a clear picture but whatever happened was unprecedented and such acts cannot be justified,” he said, refusing to attribute the incident on an intelligence failure.
Sangma said the members who hijacked his meeting and created violence were not members of the NGOs with whom he was holding meeting and they belonged to different agencies or political parties. He referred to the confessional statements of some of those arrested.
“Going by the evidence, the sloganeering happened to be from political parties. If a person is proven to have been involved in inciting, action will be taken against that person,” the CM said. But he admitted there was a lapse and he would try to correct it.
“As per reports, 10-15 people used to be on strike daily and the crowd on the day of the meeting was beyond what was imagined,” he said.
Asked if his security was being reviewed, he said the DGP, Lajja Ram Bishnoi met him the day after the incident happened.
Sangma claimed the police have been following the necessary procedure in an independent manner to get to the bottom of the incident.
On the sidelines, monetary reward of Rs 5,000 along with a letter of appreciation was given to all 12 Meghalaya Police and Home Guard personnel, who were injured. Letters of appreciation were also issued to seven CRPF personnel who were hurt in the violence.
This is a departmental reward in addition to the Rs 50,000 reward announced by the CM.
A total of 47 security personnel who were in the line of fire during the attack have been awarded.
Meanwhile, the District Magistrate of West Garo Hills, in view of the situation in Tura town stabilising, has withdrawn Section 144 CrPC promulgated in the region.
Moreover, BSF forces that were deployed in Tura have also been withdrawn, the order stated.
