SHILLONG: The NCP and the UDP have demanded the intervention of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in the Jonathone Sangma murder case.
NCP working president Vijay Raj termed the killing of Sangma as a “political murder” and expressed his surprise that the police confirmed the incident only after the chief minister posted and condemned the incident on Facebook.
In a letter to the State Chief Electoral Officer, Frederick R Kharkongor, Raj said NCP candidates are being targeted by miscreants under the influence of some political party.
He mentioned that a few days ago, the house of another candidate in Rongjeng was burnt down.
Raj accused the state machinery of failing to respond to the incident since it took more than two hours for the fire brigade to reach the location and provide assistance. He demanded that other NCP candidates in the state should be provided security in the wake of the Williamnagar attack.
NCP general secretary SP Thapa said he received information that after the IED blast on Sunday, miscreants opened indiscriminate fire on the vehicles.
In the last election in February 2013, Jonathone had filed a case against Congress leader Deborah C Marak at Williamnagar police station for instigating militants of the Garo National Liberation Army against him.
The police had then filed a charge-sheet against Marak under sections 120B, 171F and 506 of the Indian Penal Code. However, the case is still pending in the lower court in Shillong.
Thapa said the Police Department failed to provide security to the candidate despite threat posters in many places in Williamnagar warned voters against supporting Jonathone.
Jonathone also received threat calls and the same was communicated to the police but “no adequate security was provided to him”, Thapa added.
UDP president Donkupar Roy too felt NIA would be the “best agency” to investigate the brutal murder.
Blaming the government for the incident, Roy told reporters that it should not take militancy lightly.
The UDP leader pointed out that despite Jonathone facing a threat to his life, his security was ignored. “The government is not taking care of the security of all the candidates,” he said and added that even his security was withdrawn following the announcement of the election dates.
“I don’t think there is any direction from the Election Commission for withdrawal of the security of the candidates,” Roy told reporters.
