By Our Reporter
SHILLONG, April 17: Two days after Voice of the People Party (VPP) chief Ardent Miller Basaiawmoit had lodged an FIR against former Khasi Hills Autonomous District Council (KHADC) MDC Donkupar Sumer, the latter on Wednesday filed an FIR against the MLA levelling charges of theft, cheating, forgery and misappropriation of funds.
In the FIR filed at the Lumdiengjri police station, Sumer alleged the VPP chief had committed the crimes when he was serving as the Chief Executive Member (CEM) of the KHADC.
According to Sumer’s charge, Basaiawmoit had siphoned off public money in the garb of acquiring a plot of land for the KHADC.
“I was the Executive Member of the Council at that time and, therefore, these facts have come to my knowledge. I also have cogent and conclusive evidence to prove the same which I have enclosed for your kind perusal,” the FIR read.
Sumer claimed Basaiawmoit did not have any authorisation of the Council’s Executive Members for entering into any purported sale deed nor was the sale deed ever registered.
He further alleged that the former CEM merely signed an invalid document “as an eyewash” to show that the land was acquired and thus, siphoned off Rs 35,25,039 from the accounts of the Council.
“We later got to know that the document is only a non-judicial paper of Rs 10. The so-called sale deed was never registered nor was the stamp duty paid. Therefore, it was an invalid document with no value in the eye of law, and he had signed it without authorisation only to siphon off the public money,” Sumer alleged.
He said the result is that till date, the Council has not been able to claim ownership over the said land and has to run its office from a piece of land donated by the landowners.
He said the alleged forgery committed by Basaiawmoit becomes further apparent from the fact that when a notice dated 15.07.2022 was sent by the Council for a survey, the landowner, Nolipstar Lyngdoh, with whom the VPP chief claims to have entered into a sale deed, stated he never received the full amount and, therefore, he cannot transfer the ownership of the property. This is evident from the enclosed minutes of the meeting dated 22.07.2022 of the Council, Sumer said.
“Further, with ulterior motives to siphon off further funds, he terminated 7 employees on the pretext that the Council does not have funds, and thereafter, hired 12 of his own people. You are, therefore, requested to take necessary action so that the accused Mr. Ardent cannot go scot-free after committing such a serious financial fraud against the Council and the public at large,” the FIR read.
Basaiawmoit had filed his FIR against Sumer on Monday.
In the FIR filed before the officer-in-charge of Sadar police station, he said Sumer, while addressing a meeting of the NPP recently, had accused him of misappropriating Rs 30 lakh and terminating Khasi employees from the Council, which is “false, baseless and incorrect”.
Mentioning that a clip of Sumer’s speech is available on the T7 news channel on YouTube which was uploaded on April 13, Basaiawmoit said, “By making such statements in the public domain, aspersions and vilification have been cast upon me, an elected member of the Meghalaya Legislative Assembly.”
“It is noteworthy to mention that such statements were made with the sole intent of defaming, maligning, and spreading false, concocted, and fabricated information to the public at large,” the VPP chief wrote in his complaint.
He said the statements amount to criminal offences under Section 499 and other relevant provisions of the Indian Penal Code, 1860.