The death of a JCB driver
- Hueiyen Lanpao Editorial :: October 28, 2013 -
'Unfortunate' is the word that seems to remain stick in the mind of most leaders in the State when they have to speak up in condemnation of a heinous crime, of which there is no dearth in Manipur today.
But this time, it would be a word too soft to condemn the killing of JCB driver Meisnam Devraj of Khurai Sajor Leikai under Imphal East district, who was found dead buried under the ground near Seijang village in Tamenglong district after remaining traceless for almost two weeks.
In the morning of October 14 last, Devraj reportedly went out along with two unknown persons who gave Rs 3000 as advance money for hiring the JCB to its owner identified as Chanam Anilkumar of Chanam Pukhri Mapal for digging out a culvert in Imphal East district for necessary road repairing work.
However, as Devraj failed to return home that evening and his family members could not establish contact on the following days, the local people duly formed a Joint Action Committee (JAC) to exert pressures on the State Government and other concerned authorities to do the needful for finding out the whereabouts of the missing driver and the stolen heavy excavation machinery.
The JAC had even called bandh, launched a series of sit-in-protest demonstration and had also given a three-day's deadline to the Government for tracing the missing JCB and its driver. However, everything has come to naught.
After the lifeless body of Devraj was found buried under the ground at a secluded spot near Seijang village in Tamenglong district in the evening of October 26, State Police have been making tall claim about the efforts made to trace the missing driver and the JCB soon after receiving the report as if it was some great achievements that deserve to be lauded.
Detailing of the criminal records of the two arrested killers and their alleged accomplices only after the recovery of the decomposed body of Devraj and the missing JCB has shown once again how dismally poor is the investigative skills of the State police.
If they know so much about the criminal records of the people involved in similar crimes of hijacking or stealing vehicles after duping their unsuspecting owners, then why the police have taken so long, almost two weeks, to lay their hands on such criminals to make headway in their investigation?
To say that it was difficult for the police to crack the case this time as the victim had already been done to death and buried on the first day of his abduction itself sound so ridiculously funny.
By the way, however inhumane and brutal the act of killing and burying the body of the JCB driver, the two criminals who are in the police custody now seems to deserve the shout of bravo for their ability to outwit the police in keep such a large excavation machinery like JCB hiding for so long in a small State like Manipur.
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