5 extortionists lynched
Source: Hueiyen News Service / Newmai News Network
Shillong, July 16 2014:
In two separate incidents spread over two and half hours, two groups of extortionists were lynched on Tuesday near the town of Rongjeng in the East Garo Hills region of Meghalaya.
Though the lynching happened in two separate places, reportedly it is the same group of people who had initially come to a remote village of Jambal, under Rongjeng.
While two of them have been identified, the first three persons' identities are yet to be known.
The second incident happened in the village of Silchang Gittim, about 3 km from the place of the original lynching.
According to reports from Rongjeng, near which the five were lynched, a group of about 7 dacoits had come to the village of Jambal, about a km from Rongjeng at around 2 pm brandishing small arms and demanded money at gunpoint.
Angry villagers then ghearoed them and moved in.
The seven member group then fired in the air to try and disperse the crowd, however, the crowd was unmoved and immediately caught three of them.
A severe beating left the three dead on the spot even as the remaining four from the group managed to escape the mob.
However, two from the group of four were then caught in Silchang Gittim by villagers who attacked them and killed the two.
The two killed in Silchang have been identified as Josua Momin and Sengba Sangma and the incident has been reported to the Rongjeng Police Station.
The Superintendent of Police (SP) of East Garo Hills (EGH), Davis Marak said, "We have been informed that a group of dacoits tried to extort money from the villagers yesterday night by threatening them with small weapons.
The angry villagers retaliated by attacking them and three were killed while the rest fled" .
According to latest reports, Rongjeng police personnel have gone to the spot of the incident to recover the bodies as well as look into the incident.
About 2 months ago, a similar incident had resulted in the lynching of three extortionists in the North Garo Hills (NGH) near Adokgre and another two were lynched in the South Garo Hills (SGH) region, indicating the pent up anger coming to the fore in most places in Garo Hills.