TURA, May 28 ? In a gruesome incident, suspected Garo militants belonging to the banned A?chik National Volunteers Council (ANVC) executed a village headman and another villager in East Garo Hills on Monday night. In yet another incident, a hardcore ULFA militant surrendered before Tura police in West Garo Hills. A group of heavily armed ANVC militants went to the house of Malindro M Marak, the Lasker (Headman) of Raja-A?pal village, near Bajengdoba, shortly after 10 pm on Monday. They took him out of the house and fired a single shot into his head killing him on the spot. Similarly another group of militants forcibly took away Jotin T Sangma of Mendup village, near Raja-A?pal. He was also executed in a similar way and his body was left near the main national highway at Dingnok Bazar with his hands tied behind his back. Early morning travellers saw Jotin?s body lying near the road at Dingnok Bazar.
It is not known as to why the two were killed but the ANVC may have suspected them to be police informers which have been denied by the police. The killings are believed to have been connected to the abduction and rescue of a Garo Hills politician, Garo Hills Autonomous District Council member Mozidur Rehman. Mozidur managed to break fare from his ANVC captors when a joint police and CRPF team raided Raja A?pal village during the night, two weeks ago. The police teams conducting operations in the area had unknowingly arrived at the village in which the captives were holed up. The militants on seeing the police party fled from the village leaving behind the captives who escaped in the opposite direction.
It is presumed that the ANVC may have suspected the role of villagers in the rescue attempt by the police leading to the killing of the Laskar and a daily wages earner. This is the first instance in which a headman was killed in the Garo Hills. A couple of years ago, the ANVC militants had beheaded the headman of Rajaju village in West Khasi hills on suspicion that he informed the police of their presence.
Meanwhile, a hardcore ULFA militant belonging to the Engima group of the banned outfit surrendered before the West Garo Hills police at Tura on Monday afternoon. Clever M Momin alias Babu Marak, aged 28 years, surrendered without any arms to the Tura police. Clever hails from Singlimara area of Sontipur district in Assam and is a 1995 batch cadre of the banned outfit. He was trained in the use of arms and explosives in Burma, Arunachal Pradesh and Bhutan before entering the jungles of Garo Hills for subversive activities. He was closely associated with the Enigma commander Dristi Rajkhowa and is a senior member of the political wing of the ULFA under second lieutenant Hira Sarania.