Staff Reporter
ITANAGAR, Apr 26: Simmering tension reportedly prevails in the Koloriang assembly constituency in Kurung Kumey district ahead of the fresh polls on Saturday, following the alleged murder of gaon burah (GB) Bengia Tamang at the Taba polling station in Damin circle on Thursday evening.
The body of the deceased was brought to Koloriang at around 5 am on Friday for postmortem, and later handed over to the family members.
“The situation is under control,” Kurung Kumey DC Santosh Rai told The Arunachal Times.
The DC informed that the postmortem was conducted peacefully, without any intervention from the family members of the deceased.
“Family members of late Bengia Tamang called on me and demanded early arrest of the culprits responsible for his death. I assured them that the law will act accordingly and the culprits will be arrested soon,” the DC said over the phone.
He said the victim’s family has submitted an FIR to the police, demanding early arrest of the culprit(s). However, both the DC and the SP refused to disclose the names which the family has named in the FIR.
The shooting incident evidently reflected failure on the part of the intelligence agency and the police. Despite the assurance from the additional chief electoral officer that full security would be arranged ahead of the re-polling in Taba, the incident exposed the actual security arrangement in the district.
In a prohibitory order he had issued on 22 April, the DC had clearly mentioned the precarious situation ahead of the fresh polls in the Koloriang assembly constituency. The DC had to clamp 144 CrPC in order to maintain law and order in the district.
In his order, the DC had stated about having received information that some individuals were carrying daos, guns and other lethal weapons openly, and that persons who were not electors of the polling stations were arriving at the polling stations where re-polling has been fixed “in order to create law and order problems.”
Despite several attempts, The Arunachal Times was unable to get any official reaction from the police department on the issue.
NPP demands probe
Meanwhile, the state unit of the National People’s Party (NPP) has vehemently condemned the killing of the GB, and demanded immediate probe into the case.
“The incident clearly reflects to what extent the BJP candidate can go to serve his vested interests,” the NPP said in a press statement.
The party said it has submitted a petition to the state chief electoral officer to disqualify the candidature of BJP candidate Lokam Tassar for his alleged involvement in “corrupt practices” during the simultaneous elections.
It said the Kurung Kumey district election officer (DEO) had ordered an inquiry against the BJP candidate, his personal security officer and his supporters for assaulting a magistrate on duty.
The inquiry report was supposed to be submitted to the DEO by 2 April, the party said.
It suggested to the CEO to conduct the re-polling centrally at Koloriang in view of the prevailing law and order situation, and to deploy sufficient security forces to avoid any poll-related incident.
Six polling booths under the Koloriang constituency will go for fresh polling on 27 April.
The state NPP meanwhile said the additional CEO has assured to take up the party’s demands with the authorities concerned.
