Shillong, Sep 14: The court of the District and Sessions Judge of East Garo Hills has sentenced a man convicted of kidnapping a Nokma in 2014 to life imprisonment.
The case goes back to January 2014 when unknown assailants kidnapped one Kredynard Sangma from Songsak Bonegre village, firing guns into the air as they did so.
A self-styled commander-in-chief of newly-formed Achik National Liberation Central Army (ANLCA), Sengpan N Marak, was arrested the following month and he reportedly confessed to this and other serious crimes, including killing at least one man in cold blood.
This particular case only involves the kidnapping of Kredynard, who was the Nokma of the area.
The charge sheet was filed three and a half years after the crime was committed, in June 2017, and the case was concluded recently. The judge found Sengpan guilty under Section 450 of the Indian Penal Code (house trespass with the intent to commit an offence punishable by life imprisonment) and Section 364A of the IPC (kidnapping for ransom).
Sengpan was sentenced to five years’ simple imprisonment for the first offence and a fine of Rs 10,000 and life imprisonment for the second with a fine of Rs 50,000.
The Nokma had reportedly received land compensation just before the kidnapping, which may have been the reason for him being targetted
