Our Bureau
NEW DELHI/SHILLONG, Aug 21: Acting on the orders of the Meghalaya High Court, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has taken over the investigation into two cases related to the “extra judicial” killing of Sengbath Ch Marak allegedly by police in an encounter in a village in Garo Hills in March 2015, according to an official source here.
The development comes almost four months after the High Court had ordered an investigation into the encounter case in which police allegedly killed Sengbath on March 4, 2015 in the village of Oragitok where it had reached on getting information about the presence of Garo National Liberation Army (GNLA) militants in a school.
The High Court had directed the Superintendent of Police, West Garo Hills District, to hand over all relevant records and materials to the CBI to facilitate such investigation including the inquiry report.
The CBI’s special crime unit has been tasked with probing the case, the source said.
Genesis
Sengbath was the son of the Nokma of Oragitok under the West Garo Hills (WGH) district.
The encounter took place on March 4, 2015, after the police received information about Garo National Liberation Army (GNLA) militants taking shelter in the Romba Adinggre LP School in Oragitok village. The police claimed they retaliated when the militants, asked to surrender, opened fire on them.
Sengbath, 33, who the police claimed was one of the militants was initially shot in the leg when he rushed out of the school compound. A second shot killed him as he tried to escape.
After the encounter, the police allegedly recovered a country-made pistol along with some incriminating documents to prove that the person killed was indeed a GNLA operative.
The news of the police encounter spread like wildfire after the villagers reported that Sengbath died in a stage-managed incident.
The police personnel involved in the incident included the then CI of Tura Sadar Police Station, B.N. Marak, the in-charge of Rongram, BA Bamon, and Mingran T. Sangma.
Sengbath’s father, Abal M. Sangma approached the high court after filing an FIR at Rongram alleging that his son’s encounter was “fake”.
According to witnesses, stones were thrown at the house of Sengbath, who was alone when the police asked him to come out. He followed the police order but was shot in the leg as soon as he emerged and was shot again when he tried to escape.
Mingran Sangma was allegedly the first to shoot at Sengbath before everyone rained fire in the presence of BN Marak and Bamon and other police personnel.
On Tuesday, the high court heard the parties involved in the case with Abal’s counsel punching holes in the encounter “theory”. The court had subsequently prescribed a CBI probe into the incident.