Police says (L) Romeo Lyngdoh was HNLC’s overground worker

Syllad | The Rising MeghalayaMay 16, 2019

SHILLONG: The state police on Thursday revealed that late Romeo Lyngdoh was an overground worker and has been involved in arranging funds for the proscribed Hynniewtrep National Liberation Council (HNLC).

Lyngdoh (54) alias ‘Bah Lieh’ was shot dead in his residence at Lapalang village along the Indo-Bangla border in East Khasi Hills District on Sunday night. The HNLC while claiming responsibility for the killing has accused the deceased of working as a police informer.

Refuting this claim, district police chief Claudia A Lyngwa said as per reliable information, Lyngdoh has been arranging funds for the outfit but for the last one year he has also become slightly greedy and has been quietly siphoning the money for himself.

“I think they have done a proper investigation…the only reason the HNLC actually kill him is because he has betrayed them. So claiming that this man is a police informer is out of the question,” she told reporters here.

According to her, there is no reason for the police to need the help of a person like him (Lyngdoh) especially when he was also part of the group.

In 2016, in fact almost three years where a vehicle was intercepted by the district police in which hnlc boys and one ulfa and driver was arrested along with weapons and explosives. The vehicle used belongs to Lyngdoh.

The HNLC had also alleged that Lyngdoh was the one who had provided information to the police in 2016 leading to the arrest of its cadres along with IEDs in Pynursla adding the cadres of the outfit had reserved his car unknowingly that he was a police informer.

However, the SP said that the vehicle used by the HNLC cadres and an ULFA cadre belongs to Lyngdoh. “Lyngdoh had put all the blame on his driver and that he has no clue on the incident but later it was found that he was actually the one who made the arrangement,” she said.

Rubbishing the claims of the HNLC that it took them three long years to track down Lyngdoh, she said that the outfit could have used its senior cadre Donboklang, who is also known as Palangrwai, to identify the house of the victim, since he was from Lapalang.

The SP further admitted that the two armed cadres had sneaked in from across the border and said according to the villagers, they have noticed that two people had come to the village in the late evening of that fateful day.

Whether there is any threat, Lyngwa said, “No, you have only 10 cadres and you think you can talk like a lion in the jungle.”

Stating that police are constantly monitoring the border, the SP said there are very good people and well wishers working for the police adding nobody has reported about any organisation making any demand or people are being extorted.

“That fear thing is not there in the border anymore unlike in the olden days,” she stated.