A serving member of the Meghalaya Home Guards was found dead on Wednesday in North Guwahati, where he had gone for training. Family members have rejected the Assam police’s version of events and maintain that his death was mysterious.
Ribokson Dkhar Sawian was only 34 and his family say that he was in excellent health, which makes, they say, unlikely that he died of a heart attack, which is what they were told by Assam police.
Ribokson was a resident of Nongdawah, Mawryngkneng, in East Khasi Hills. He had gone to Guwahati on April 7 for the training programme.
In an FIR filed with North Guwahati police by his brother Rolan it was stated that Ribokson had gone missing from the training camp of the National Disaster Response Force between 6:30pm and 6:45pm, as was recounted by his colleague Kenedy Lhuid.
“By 8pm, when he did not return to the camp, they started searching for him along with officials from the NDRF, 1st Battalion Assam but they did not find him,” the brother stated in the FIR. The next morning, with still no sign of Ribokson’s return, his colleagues, along with NDRF personnel, filed a missing person report at the Changsari police station.
Officials of that police station then informed them that Ribokson had been found dead on the roadside in Gauripur near a dhaba by police at around 9:30pm.
Assam police believe that he died of a heart attack but the family have taken issue with this argument. To them, it does not make sense for Ribokson to have travelled far from the camp as he did not have his mobile phone or any money with him and was only dressed in shorts and a t-shirt as he had intended on taking a bath.
In the FIR, his brother Rolan said that the death was unnatural and urged police to investigate the matter further.
Meanwhile, the remains of the deceased were brought back home today afternoon amidst emotional scenes. The family said that they will wait for the post-mortem report and then will decide how to go ahead with the matter. They also said that they will meet officials of the state government so that the latter take up the issue and get to the root of the matter.
