Shillong: Three persons were injured in an alleged police firing triggering a mob to torch a police station and five vehicles at Resubelpara in Meghalaya’s North Garo Hills district, police said on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, Meghalaya Chief Minister Mukul Sangma has ordered a judicial enquiry into the police firing.
The three persons, while they were returning from a weekly market, were fired at by police after the vehicle they were travelling did not stop at a police check point last night, North Garo Hills District Deputy Commissioner S C Sadhu told PTI.
All the three occupants of the car were critically injured and shifted to Guwahati where their conditions were reported stable, he said.
As the news spread, a mob set afire the local police station, five police vehicles and a makeshift shelter for police guards within the premises, he said.
While the police team maintained that the occupants of the vehicle were asked to stop in the first and second check points, their refusal led the policemen at the last layer to fire at them suspecting to be armed militants.
District SP Dalton Marak said, “we had information about William Sangma (who had earlier evaded arrest by running away in a vehicle which was asked to stop) and had duly set up a check point, close to the Belpara Baptist Church. However, at about 10:30, when we asked the vehicle to stop, it refused to do so.”
The situation, however, was brought under control this morning after the residents of the town took out a march against the “excesses of the police”, he said.
The Meghalaya government will constitute a judicial enquiry into the police firing Sangma informed the Assembly on Tuesday.
“In order to clear all doubts and instill confidence, the government will take a call and have a judicial inquiry,” Sangma told the Assembly after Home Minister H D R Lyngdoh made a suo motu statement on the incident.
The chief minister also announced adequate compensation for the injured civilians.
Appealing to the people of the area to maintain peace, he said Chief Secretary K S Kropha and Director General of Police S B Singh were monitoring the situation.
Home Minister Lyngdoh in his statement said that a mob ransacked and burnt down a police station and five vehicles after three traders were injured in police firing at Resubelpara.
Former Chief Minister S C Marak, a local MLA, demanded judicial inquiry and adequate compensation for the victims.
While supporting Marak’s demand, Opposition Chief Whip James K Sangma alleged that “trigger happy” policemen were responsible for the incident.
-PTI