TURA: An old abandoned house belonging to the Sericulture Department in Tura was consumed by flames in what is being suspected to be an arson attack by miscreants on Saturday night.
The old house inside the Sericulture Department in Araimile area of the town was up in flames shortly after dark, on a day when some Garo organizations had called for a three-day mourning in protest over the participation of non-tribals in the upcoming GHADC elections and anti-social elements had used social media and distributed pamphlets calling for a total ) closure.
“On getting a report about the fire our fire brigade rushed to the site and doused the flames. Nothing can be said as of now but our teams are investigating the incident,” said the district police chief Mukesh Kr Singh told The Shillong Times.
By the time the fire tenders had extinguished the flames around 70 percent of the house had been damaged.
Security forces have been put on high alert throughout the Garo Hills with additional paramilitary and state forces deployed in the five districts ahead of the upcoming council polls which are allegedly facing opposition from Garo NGOs and militant groups.
