The State police has not received any official complaints of extortion by the proscribed HNLC except one.
However, the information about extortion notes served to many businessmen was found in the mobile phone of a recently arrested cadre of the outfit.
“Nobody has reported and we are only hearing about it on social media and as of the date there is only one single report and we have acted on it,” said Deputy Inspector General of Police Claudia A. Lyngwa.
Addressing a press conference here today, Lyngwa said when it comes to demand notes there are a lot of people who indulged in such crimes and one cannot pin point on any particular organisation.
Reminding about the recent arrest of a HNLC cadre, Storgy Lyngdoh who had sneaked into Meghalaya from Bangladesh, she said that from his mobile phone the police learnt that there has been a lot of extortions and demands made from a lot of people.
Lyngwa however said that there was no demand note served by him to the people but from his phone a lot of contact numbers were open and seen and they were all related to demands.
On reports that Storgy sneaked into Meghalaya to surrender, she said that he was a part of the peace negotiation team of HNLC and if he wanted to surrender he would have done so when he was in Shillong.
“Going back to Bangladesh and coming back, what does it imply”? Lyngwa asked.
Asked about the current strength of the HNLC, she said as per information it was learnt that there are 30-40 cadres and maintained that they do not have information about the weapons they possess.
She also informed that there are 33 pending cases against the outfit.
Lyngwa also clarified that the police are not carrying out any operations against the HNLC but if any person commits a crime the law will take its own course.
Asked about the steps to instill a sense of security amongst the people, she said, “The police has worked endlessly and sacrificed so many police lives that itself and the way the eastern part of the state is as of today and the number of tourist coming in is because the police has put in a lot of hard work that should instill confidence.”
