GUWAHATI: Four suspected Bangladeshi nationals have been arrested after a villager was attacked in the wee hours of Friday in Meghalaya’s South West Khasi Hills district bordering Bangladesh.
Superintendent of Police B Jyrwa in a statement said information was received on August 8 at around 11 am that eight to nine unknown persons had entered a shop at Rongdangai village and held an individual named Balsrang Marak as hostage. Later, Marak was taken to the New Rongdangai village.
"While being moved, the victim managed to free himself and ran to a house in New Rongdangai village, where he locked the door from inside. However, the miscreants chased him, banged on the door from outside, and fired several rounds," the SP said.
The family members, frightened, tried to open the door, allowing the miscreants to enter the house and assault Marak, the officer said, adding that they fled after the attack.
Around 2:15 pm on the same day, the police received information from a quarry owner that some armed miscreants had entered his land near Khonjoy village, the SP said.
He said when a police team reached the site, the miscreants, carrying small arms, started running away. The personnel asked them to stop and fired two rounds in the air, but they ran into a forested area.
The police recovered an axe, a barbed wire cutter, a screw driver, a small knife, a Bangladesh police ID card, three wireless handsets, three medical prescriptions of Mahfus Bangladesh, ten Bangladeshi currency notes amounting to 769 taka, one Rs 500 note and three micro explosives from the site.
The police subsequently launched combing operations along with the Border Security Force (BSF) to nab the miscreants.
"Today (Saturday) at around 8 am, the villagers of Khonjoy B helped apprehend one suspect, namely Mefus Rehman (35) of Comilla, Bangladesh, and he was brought to Nonghyllam police station. Thereafter, at around 1 pm, a combined team of the police and the BSF were able to apprehend three more suspects from Chibak forest,” the SP said.
The persons were identified as Jangir Alom (25), Meruphur Rahman (32) and Saem Hussain (30), all from Bangladesh, according to police. The motive behind their illegal entry was not known.
