The National Investigation Agency (NIA) today filed chargesheets against four Hynniewtrep National Liberation Council (HNLC) members over the December 2020 improvised explosive device (IED) blast on a Star Cement property in East Jaintia Hills.
Two workers were slightly injured in the attack on the company’s colony in Lumshnong, which occurred after the company refused to pay extortion money, what the outlawed militant group described as “tax” when it took responsibility for the blast.
The NIA investigation found that one Marius Rynjah, alias Hep Koit, the finance secretary of the HNLC, had tried to extort Star Cement. Rynjah is a resident of Baranumber (Barapunjee) in Bangladesh.
The other three accused in the chargesheet are Emmanuel Suchen, alias Shwa, of Lumshnong; Bobby Marwein, a resident of Islapunjee in Bangladesh; and Sainkupar Nongtraw, the publicity secretary and a resident of Nunchera, Bangladesh.
Further investigations in the case are in progress. The HNLC later carried out IED attacks on a police building in Khliehriat and two locations in Shillong – Laitumkhrah and Police Bazaar. Following the latter, the HNLC expressed a desire for peace talks, which the state government readily agreed to.
What impact this chargesheet will have on the negotiations remains to be seen. Three senior members accompanied by two of their so-called personal security officers were given safe passage by the government to attend the talks.
