GUWAHATI: Exactly a month after they were abducted by militants, the bodies of Intelligence Bureau (IB) officer Bikash Singh and a local trader Kamal Saha were retrieved by Meghalaya Police on Saturday.
“We recovered the bodies of the IB officer and trader from a forested area at Bolchugre in South Garo Hills district. They were killed a day after their abduction on September 24 and the bodies were buried. We have exhumed them,” Superintendent of Police Lakador Syiem told Express.
He said bodies were identified by the family members of the victims. The police had learnt about the killings and burial of the bodies from an arrested militant.
On September 24, armed militants of the A’chik Songna An’pachakgipa Kotok intercepted a vehicle near Rongara in the district and made all its 12 occupants line up on the road. Later, they singled out Singh and Saha and allowed others to go. They then slipped into a forest taking the two hostages with them. Singh, hailing from Bihar, was posted as an assistant central intelligence officer at Rongara last year. Extortion is believed to be the motive behind the abduction.
Condemning the killings, Meghalaya-based Civil Society Women Organisation (CSWO) demanded an NIA probe into the incident.
“The CSWO was informed that Bikash Kumar Singh got wind of a very important information in Shillong and was transferred to South Garo Hills… The NIA has to track down if his phone was tapped as anything can happen if those involved in shady deals — from corruption to coal mining to allowing extortion — have all the know-how to do away with intelligence by tapping calls of all who oppose their offences,” CSWO president Agnes Kha-rshiing said in a statement to the media.