TURA: It has been two long weeks since a man with a psychological problem snatched a police rifle and fled into the darkness in Mahendraganj border town, but the weapon remains untraced.
Accused Ahidul Islam had attacked a police patrol party with a dao and snatched an Insas rifle of a constable on the night of July 21st.
While the accused was caught several days later from a desolate place in Mahendraganj town outskirts, the rifle is still untraced.
Police search teams have been scouting the waterlogged area next to a PWD road where the accused claims to have discarded the loaded rifle but success continues to elude them.
The matter has been further complicated by the absence of the accused who was sent to Tura where his psychiatric evaluation has been ordered by a court.
“We have not got him in police custody because he is presently in the Tura Civil Hospital where doctors are conducting his psychiatric evaluation. Once that is completed we will seek the court’s permission for his custody so that he can lead us to the actual site where he threw the weapon,” informed South West Garo Hills district police chief R. Ravi. In the absence of any pinpoint location, police teams continue to search a wide waterlogged area using divers, magnets and metal detectors in the hope of recovering the gun.
There is apprehension that once the dry winter season sets in and the waters are gone criminals could take advantage to try and retrieve the weapon for unlawful activities.
The rifle snatching and subsequent disappearance of the accused had created a law and order problem after a mob attacked the police station over false reports of his death.
The administration had to clamp curfew in the town for two consecutive nights to bring the situation under control.
