SHILLONG: Meghalaya Home Minister Roshan Warjri on Friday expressed concern over the death of 14 labourers from Dhubri, Assam, in the State and said that the State government will wait for the inquiry report into this very ‘unfortunate incident’.
“We will wait for the inquiry report constituted by the police to probe this incident,” Warjri said while addressing newsmen here on Friday.
“We will be able to get a clearer picture on the cause of the death once the inquiry is completed,” she said, adding, “The compensation aspect will be decided only after the report is submitted.”
The home minister referred to preliminary reports and said that the labourers had died after consuming poisonous wild fruits on Sunday evening and their bodies were found only the next morning.
IGP A. Sunn is conducting an inquiry into this incident. While no specific time frame has been fixed for the completion of this inquiry, Additional Chief Secretary in charge Home, K.S. Kropha, said, “As per the CrPC, three months is the normal stipulated time to complete an inquiry.”
He also informed that Chief Secretary P.B.O. Warjri has dispatched a letter to his Assam counterpart highlighting the details of the incident.
“In the letter, we have mentioned about the steps taken by the Meghalaya government. We have also mentioned about the inquiry constituted by the police into the incident,” Kropha said.
Kropha informed that the Assam Chief Secretary has intimated Meghalaya about the administrative inquiry which they had constituted under an additional chief secretary.
State DGP Rajiv Mehta, while speaking on the incident, informed that Meghalaya Police was in touch with Assam Police on the matter. “We have taken steps to ensure that there is no law and order problem in view of this incident,” the DGP said.
The State Police has ruled out any foul play in the incident but added that they would decide on the next course of action after receipt of the post-mortem report.
“Prima facie it looks like a case of food poisoning. There are no indications of any foul play, but then we will wait for the post-mortem report,” East Jaintia Hills Superintendent of Police M.K. Dkhar had said.
