Shillong, May 31: Former MLA John Leslee K Sangma has filed a complaint with the Superintendent of Police of West Garo Hills claiming that Mahendraganj MLA Sanjay A Sangma and his daughter are running a wine store in Tura under the name of another individual, thus breaking the law.
The wine store in question obtained a licence in the name of Ruparam A Sangma, who died in October 2025. Permission was subsequently sought by his widow, Silse Marak, to continue operating the shop as his heir until the licence was transferred into her name. Police approved the request in November 2025.
Then, in March, the shop and one other was looted by rioters during the communal violence over voting by non-tribals in the Garo Hills Autonomous District Council (GHADC).
An FIR was then filed by one Dolse G Momin, who is Sanjay Sangma’s daughter, claiming that Rs 70-80 lakh worth of alcohol had been stolen.
John Leslee stated that Sanjay and Dolse own the building in which the wine store is located and the two also “operated and actively managed and profited” from the wine store and that the name of the ownership of Ruparam and Silse was effectively a legal fiction. Subletting is a “clear violation” of the Excise Act, he added, while also stating that the shop breaks the law mandating that it be at least 50m from a highway.
