Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma publicly backed the police in West Garo Hills over their attempts to crack down on supposed extortion of businessmen in the district.
Earlier this week, police revealed that the Meghalaya Chamber of Commerce (MCC) had put pressure on businesses in West Garo Hills, which led to inflation of essential commodities. Police claimed that, with their intervention, prices were brought down for a number of items.
The authorities claimed that the MCC was being run by Tura MDC Bernard Marak, who is under arrest over allegations that a farmhouse of his was being used as a brothel, in league with a few others.
Police said the MCC was involved in illegal collection from shopkeepers and in threatening non-tribal businessmen to obtain no-objection certificates (NOCs) without which their Trading by Non-Tribal (TNT) License cannot be renewed by the Garo Hills Autonomous District Council, of which Marak is an MDC.
“Just recently the West Garo Hills police and the West Garo Hills administration has been cracking down on illegal activities, especially in terms of extortion, which led to the prices of essential commodities going up,” the CM said today.
However, two days ago, the MCC said that Marak has no role in the organisation and denied its involvement in the rise of prices, saying that, due to a political vendetta, the police were going after Marak and sought to link him to the MCC.
“Based on inputs received, a number of actions were taken by the district police and concrete steps are now being taken to ensure that this does not happen in the future,” Sangma stated today, adding that the poor and general citizenry of West Garo Hills will benefit from the crackdown.
He also assured merchants, shopkeepers and other businessmen and women that the entire administration, the police and the government “will be there to support and ensure that full protection is given in the future” and that extortion will not take place.
