A day after police in Ri-Bhoi arrested two suspected overground workers of the outlawed Hynniewtrep National Liberation Council (HNLC) for extortion, the militant group hit back today by accusing the District Transport Officer (DTO) of rampant corruption, especially in the registration of vehicles from outside the state.
Following yesterday’s arrest, Ri-Bhoi police poured scorn on the HNLC leadership, claiming that they are safely ensconced in Bangladesh while low ranking overground workers do the dirty (and risky) work of extorting members of the public in Meghalaya.
Today, the HNLC first complained about police brutality as one of those arrested was photographed with a bandaged head.
The banned group then launched into a tirade where it accused the Ri-Bhoi DTO, Ivan Kharmon, of having “criminally transformed [the DTO office] into the epicentre of organised corruption, where extortion, forgery and economic treason are systematically practised. What was once a public regulatory institution has now become a machinery for private profiteering, with state laws violated and public trust betrayed to serve anti-tribal interests and enrich a corrupt network.”
According to the HNLC statement, for a fee (stated to be between Rs 50,000 and Rs 1 lakh), vehicle owners can illegally switch the registration of their cars from Assam to Meghalaya through forged documents and fake signatures.
This allows vehicles stolen from elsewhere to become ‘legal’ in Meghalaya, the HNLC claimed, and the action is being undertaken with the help of a non-tribal middleman and agents, who help in the forging of documents.
The HNLC also accused the DTO of allowing commercial trucks transporting coal, betel nut, cattle and high-value goods to bypass weighbridge checks in exchange for bribes. To be able to carry this out, “corrupt pressure groups”, police officers and politicians are paid off, the rebel outfit added.
The HNLC also threw in an accusation at the end that cabinet minister Sniawbhalang Dhar, whose family has extensive business interests in the state, used to “covertly” fund the militant group in years gone by when it was a stronger force.
