Mukroh firing: Cops chasing timber smugglers, say govts; villagers have a different story | North East India News,The Indian Express
Most of the villagers said they are farmers, and that many of them don’t have even their own land. The deaths of the six people Tuesday in the village, 140 odd km away from Shillong, came just before the second round of Assam-Meghalaya border dispute talks were to commence
Most of the villagers said they are farmers, and that many of them don’t have even their own land. The deaths of the six people Tuesday in the village, 140 odd km away from Shillong, came just before the second round of Assam-Meghalaya border dispute talks were to commence.
According to officials identified, Thal Shadap, 45, Sik Talang, 55, Chirup Sumer, 40, Tal Nartiang, 40, and Nikhasi Dhar, 65 were killed in the Assam Police firing. The body of the sixth person killed in the clash — Assam Forest Guard Bidyasing Lekhte — was handed over to the neighbouring state by authorities in Meghalaya.
Forty-eight hours later, both Assam and Meghalaya governments said the firing followed a purported timber smuggling bid, in which a truck carrying smuggled timber declined to halt at a forest check-post on the Assam side of the inter-state boundary and sped into Meghalaya. This, according to the official versions from both states, led to a hot chase by the Assam authorities who fired and punctured one of the tyres of the truck, immobilised it, and arrested the driver, a handyman, and another person.
Since the vehicle was already in Meghalaya, an Assam Police team dispatched to recover it was met with resistance from an armed mob, officials said. In response, the Assam cops fired at the mob. This account was first given by the Assam Police soon after the incident. Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Sangma also said the same thing later but said the firing by the Assam Police was unprovoked, and an inhuman act that would not be tolerated.
‘Simple farmers’
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