Shillong, Aug 11: The victim of an assault and robbery by a gang of suspected Bangladeshi nationals is being treated in the same hospital as one of his alleged attackers.
The father of Balsrang A Marak (22), Hebithson Sangma, today said that he was shocked when he saw one of the Bangladeshis supposedly involved in attacking his son last week at Shillong Civil Hospital.
Both the victim Balsrang and his alleged attacker, Marufur Rahman (32), who is, according to an ID tag, a personnel of the Bangladesh police, are in-patients at the Male Surgical Ward of the hospital but in different blocks.
The victim was admitted to Shillong Civil Hospital on August 8, the day of the assault, while Rahman was brought on Sunday, one day after he and three others were arrested. He had reportedly received a beating at the hands of locals, necessitating treatment.
The Bangladeshi robbers stole cash and valuables from the shop in which Marak was sleeping overnight in and kidnapped him. They physically assaulted him and threatened to kill him as well. Since then, six suspects have been arrested, with another two believed to be on the run.
“I was taking my son to the toilet, when he identified one of his attackers,” Sangma said.
He said that, outraged at his son being attacked for no reason, he even asked permission from the police to hit the Bangladeshi but was denied.
Sangma said that the Bangladeshis could be supporters of Sheikh Hasina, the former Prime Minister of Bangladesh, who resigned last year and fled the country.
According to him, Rongdongai in South West Khasi Hills is just 2-3km from the Bangladesh border.
Balsrang, who is recovering after the attack, said that there were around eight Bangladeshis who attacked him and one of them pointed a pistol at him even as he was hit and his hands handcuffed.
Meghalaya police and the Border Security Force (BSF) are hunting for the other two Bangladeshi suspects. The authorities are also trying to ascertain the motive behind the gang’s illegal entry into India. According to one report, the Bangladeshis had said under interrogation that they were collecting geckos, which have some value in alternative medicine. However, police are cautious, suspecting that this may be misinformation.
