EMN
Dimapur, April 22
[dropcap]M[/dropcap]on district police authorities have on Wednesday arrested two youths accused of shooting dead in cold-blood a person whose vehicle they hired on April 20 to travel in.
The youths were arrested following a joint operation undertaken by personnel of Mon district police and Mon Village Guards on April 22.On Tuesday, driver Arpon Das was shot dead and his vehicle taken by some gunmen who had hired the deceased’s vehicle on the pretext of bringing a patient to Mon for treatment, from Sonari in Assam.
The first suspect has been identified as one Manshing, aged about 25 years, of Phuktong village. He was arrested this morning from Ukha Village area. The second accused has been identified as one Yeihkai of Longkei village, he was apprehended from Changlangshu Changsha village this afternoon. The authorities also found a country-made .22 pistol from one of the two suspects.
The joint team of the enforcement personnel brought the two accused to Mon town’s police station on Wednesday evening and interrogation is on to ascertain the cause of murder and to nap the others.
Also, the hijacked vehicle of the victim was recovered late last night by Ukha village guards in Ukha village areas, about 120 kilometers away from the crime scene. The vehicle was handed over to the owner this morning after completion of all formalities.
On Tuesday, the dead body of a non local male person, later identified to be Arpon Das was recovered from a small stream below Phuktong village, about 2-3 kilometers away from the state highway, by the Mon district police. The deceased bore a bullet wound above the right ear, suspected to be shot at close range by pistol.
The deceased was aged around 26 years, and a resident of Sonari under Sivasagar district of Assam. He was said to have been shot by unidentified gunmen who hired his vehicle to travel to Mon.
According to the friend of the deceased and witness Lohit Konwar, who was rescued by the police at Tuimei village, the vehicle was hired from Sonari at around 2:30 Pm by two unidentified males, on the pretext of bringing a patient from Mon for treatment.
On reaching Zakho village junction, one more passenger, reportedly a friend of the two males, joined them from a motor bike that was waiting for them, and they continued on their journey to Mon.
However, after crossing Tuimei village nearing Phuktong village, the passengers stopped the vehicle at gunpoint and took the duo to the jungle and shot the driver. According to Lohit Konwar, the gunman attempted to kill him first but he managed to escape by rolling down a slope. In the process Konwar took a bullet wound to his arm.
