5kg gelatin sticks found in bag near Shillong’s NPP office; FIR against HNLC

Proscribed rebel outfit Hynñiewtrep National Liberation Council (HNLC) left a bag of IED explosives outside the office of the ruling National Peoples’ Party (NPP) on Monday afternoon, leading to a huge scare in the Lower Lachuamiere area of Shillong.

The bag was detected at about 3.40pm on Monday, minutes before Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu’s convoy was scheduled to pass through the neighbourhood. Naidu was in Meghalaya capital Shillong to address a workshop organised by the North Eastern Council (NEC) on “Changing Role of North-Eastern Council in the Development of North-Eastern Region”.

Police said the bag was spotted near the NPP office; wires jutting out. The Bomb Detection and Disposal Squad (BDDS) was promptly summoned.

The bag contained about 5kgs of gelatin sticks neatly packed in a paint container. It did not explode due to faulty wiring. The East Khasi Hills Crime Scene Unit (CSU) later took over the area to gather forensic evidence.

“On searching the bag, it was found that it contained crude improvised device which was instantly defused by the BDDS team,” a police communique said. A First Information Report (FIR) was filed at the Laitumkhrah police station against members of the proscribed outfit who claimed responsibility for planting the explosive in front of the NPP office.

In a Facebook post, Saiñkupar Nongtraw, a self-styled acting general secretary and spokesperson of the outfit, claimed responsibility for the attempted bombing.

Nongtraw blamed the ruling dispensation for the death of its former founding general secretary Cherish Starfield Thangkhiew in an encounter, and claimed the failed attempt was designed to avenge his death which he described as “a complete political conspiracy by some ministers of the state of Meghalaya”.

The rebel leader also asked NPP members and party workers in Khasi and Jaiñtia hills to resign immediately within a month.

The Meghalaya government had earlier ordered a judicial inquiry into Thangkhiew’s death., who was allegedly killed in an encounter last week, said a government order.

Meghalaya home minister Lahkmen Rymbui asked chief minister Conrad K Sangma to relieve him from the responsibility to oversee the Home (Police) Department from his post on August 15. “I hereby express shock to the incident where (L) Chesterfield Thangkhiew was killed following the raid of police at his residence exceeding the lawful tenets of the law,” Rymbui, who also holds charge of education, border areas development and district council affairs, said in his letter to the chief minister. The offer to resign from the home portfolio has not been accepted yet.