By Our Reporter
SHILLONG, Oct 13: Ri-Bhoi Police have registered a case against the outlawed Hynniewtrep National Liberation Council (HNLC) hours after the banned outfit sent emails to media houses, including The Shillong Times, claiming to have planted the IED at Umsning as a “symbolic protest”.
Ri-Bhoi Senior Superintendent of Police, Vivekanand Singh Rathore confirmed that a case has been registered against the HNLC.
On Saturday evening, police received information that an abandoned bag suspected to contain explosives had been found in one of the buildings in Umsning Market.
Acting immediately on the input, a police team launched an operation and detected the black bag inside the compound.
Upon examination, experts confirmed that the abandoned bag contained a powerful IED made using approximately 4.7 kilograms of gelatin, 10 detonators, and around 50 iron rod pieces as splinters. All explosive materials were safely seized from the scene as per procedure and later defused.
In its statement, the HNLC said the act was a “symbolic protest” against alleged “betrayal” of the indigenous population by “corrupt politicians and businessmen” in favour of “non tribal interests”.
The outfit accused “certain individuals” from the political class of sheltering non-tribal settlers, facilitating land transfers, and supporting outside interests, threatening the future of the Hynniewtrep.
Bomb scare in city
The discovery of an abandoned bag at Rynjah on Monday sparked panic among people, with police rushing a bomb disposal squad to check its contents.
The traffic came to a standstill after some people noticed an abandoned bag by the roadside near a shop at Rynjah.
Police cordoned off the road but traffic was restored later after the bomb disposal squad found nothing suspicious inside the bag.
