SHILLONG, Sept 9: Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma on Friday said the government will seek explanation from the police officers of the Tactical Team-I involved in the operation that led to death of the former HNLC leader (L) Cheristerfield Thangkhiew on August 13, 2021.
The decision was taken after the report of the One Man Commission of Inquiry headed by Justice T Vaiphei was tabled during the first day of the Assembly’s autumn session.
The report states that the operation was well planned but poorly executed since the team was supposed to capture (L) Thangkhiew alive.
“Of course the Commission has made a lot of observations regarding the process and the way it was done and that it could have been done in a different way. Therefore, immediately all the individuals involved in the Tactical Team-I will be called for explanation. Once we hear the other side of the story based on that we will proceed further,” Sangma told reporters.
He also assured that the state government will take appropriation action based on the findings of the report.
When asked why the original report and names of people were not given by the government, the chief minister clarified that the names of the police officers have been omitted based on the recommendations of the Commission as it would seriously endanger their personal safety.
“The Commission had recommended in their report that these names should not be made public in the interest and safety of the police itself. There are also ongoing investigations that are there and sensitive names of people who provided sensitive information based on which the entire investigation took shape… Those names were there and hence it would hamper the overall investigation in the larger overall interest of the public…,” he said.
Further, the chief minister also informed that investigations are still going on with regards to the different extortion cases.
He said in the last few months preceding the incident that took place on August 13, 2021, there were a large number of extortion notes being sent to lots of individuals, business people and there were even life threats being given if people don’t pay.
Sangma, however, said that extortion notes have come down drastically after the talks have started with the banned HNLC adding “there were some instances, we will not deny it but it is much lesser to what it was before.”
He said, apart from that, numerous IED blasts took place throughout the state which was really endangering a lot of people and in the findings of this Commission as well the investigations clearly reflected the direct involvement of the individual concerned (ex-HNLC leader).
“There was an eminent threat of another IED blast which would take place within 24 to 48 hours in the city on the night when they started discussing this matter and, therefore, the urgency was there to ensure the larger interest to keep the people safe. Police had to move and had to act because if they had not acted… maybe another IED blast would have gone off… we don’t know may be in PB or in Bara Bazaar or one of the high dense locations,” he said.
Admitting that the police officers are all well-trained, Sangma however said such kind of operations are made under a lot of pressure.
“There is pressure and worry… may be the bomb had already been planted somewhere, there is pressure what else could happen. So you are working under tremendous pressure with very limited time and not knowing what could happen next, these situations must be taken into consideration while this happens. Yes, you are right, they are trained well to do all these kinds of things. They plan it well but as I said it is not always in situations like these everything will go as planned as they desire,” he said.
The chief minister said people should understand that whatever the police was trying to do at that point in time was only to ensure the safety of the citizens.
