TURA: A hardened criminal William A Sangma, who had formed a rebel outfit two years ago and was arrested by Assam police in 2017, has escaped from custody while taking treatment at Tura Civil Hospital early Friday morning.
William along with another under trial prisoner (UTP) Rongseng M Sangma of Baghmara had been admitted in the UTP cell of Tura Civil Hospital on Thursday evening.
This morning when the nurse on station duty went to administer their medical dose the two prisoners made a dash for freedom.
While Rongseng tried to overpower the armed constable and snatch his weapon, William, taking advantage of the scuffle, managed to flee.
Rongseng was eventually overpowered and held.
A massive manhunt has been launched to nab William who three years ago had escaped in similar fashion by overpowering a constable and escaping from the Mendipathar police station cell.
William was involved in a series of abductions along the Kherapara Dalu road and on one occasion shot an unarmed off-duty policeman who was heading home to Dalu.
He later fled to Assam from where he orchestrated several kidnappings in North Garo Hills region of Resubelpara and Mendipathar.
With a rag tag group of criminals, he formed the A’chik National Cooperative Army and even managed to procure a powerful American made automatic assault rifle. After being on the run for much of the time, he was caught by Goalpara district police and handed over to Meghalaya where he was serving time in the Tura District Jail until Friday’s daring escape.