[ Bengia Ajum ]
ITANAGAR, 13 Mar: The police have widened the scope of the investigation into the mysterious death of former APPSC undersecretary Tumi Gangkak.
A special investigation team (SIT), headed by DSP (HQ) Kengo Dirchi, is investigating the case under the supervision of Itanagar Capital Region SP Jimmy Chiram.
The police started verifying all the vehicles that passed by the crime scene on the fateful day. This includes data of more than 70 vehicles.
Further, the mobile tower dump data of various mobile service providers are also being examined, with data of around 8,000 phone users.
The police said that they will investigate the case from every possible angle, so that justice is delivered.
Gangkak was found dead under mysterious circumstances near the Ganga Lake area, along the Jote-Poma road, on 24 February. His body was found hanging, with his wrists and Achilles tendons of both legs slit.
A murder case (u/s 302 IPC) has already been registered at the Chimpu police station, based on an FIR lodged by the bereaved family.
“The family has named SIC Inspectors Bumcho Krong and Tapun Messar in the FIR. We have examined CCTV footage of their houses and checked their call detail record (CDR) and their movement details,” said an official.
As per the CDR, Inspector Krong called Gangkak once on 13 December, when the case was still being investigated by the SIC. The next call from Krong to him was made on 23 February. The CBI also called him for inquiry twice, on 4 and 21 February.
“As per CDR of late Tumi Gangkak, he received three calls and one SMS on 23 February. Inspector Krong called him once,” the official added.
Initial findings during the postmortem on the body reportedly revealed the death as having been caused by asphyxia – the state in which a person is unable to breathe, leading to death or unconsciousness.
The police also went through the CCTV footages of the areas that Gangkak had driven to on 23 February.
“As per the movement of his vehicle seen in the CCTV footages, he did not go to the CBI. From his residence in P Sector, Itanagar, to the area of occurrence, it took 44 minutes to reach. In between, he had an 8-minute stoppage somewhere,” said the official.
Gangkak’s vehicle was last seen in CCTV footage of the zoo road, and his family has been briefed about the progress of the investigation, the police said.
Meanwhile, the family members of late Gangkak have said that they will wait for the final investigation to be out before deciding on their next course of action.
“We will wait to see the outcome of the investigation. Based on the result, we will decide our future action,” said Toter Poyom, brother-in-law of late Tumi Gangkak. He added that the police have briefed the family members about the postmortem report and the progress of the investigation.
“Police told us verbally that late Tumi Gangkak died due to asphyxia. We were not provided with a copy of the PM report. Also, we were shown the CCTV footage of his movement. However, the footage is not very clear. The investigation is still in progress,” he said.
Further, the bereaved family continues to raise suspicion over the role of SIC Inspector B Krong. “Police should have at least arrested and properly interrogated him. His role needs to be thoroughly investigated,” said Poyom.
He added that the family is satisfied with some aspects of the investigation.
“There is no doubt that the police have done good investigation in certain areas and have been transparent with us, like showing CCTV footage, etc. But much more is needed to get to the actual truth,” he said.
