Shillong, Jan 29 (IANS) Garo National Liberation Army (GNLA) rebels torched the house of one of its surrendered members in Meghalaya’s South Garo Hills district, police said Sunday, adding the rebel’s mother was missing after the incident.
“Armed GNLA rebels torched the house of Chongkham Sangma, a surrendered GNLA member, in Darangdura after his family members could not compensate the cost of an AK rifle which he had deposited when he surrendered in April last year,” a police official said.
Sangma, who surrendered along with 19 other GNLA rebels before Home Minister H.D.R. Lyngdoh, was as not in the house at the time of the incident.
“His other family members who were present in the house came out when the house was on fire but his mother was reportedly missing,” the police official told IANS, but on condition of anonynmity.
Police are still trying to ascertain the whereabouts of Sangma’s mother, the official said.
Darangdura area in South Garo Hills, bordering Bangladesh, is about 450 km west of Shillong.
The GNLA, one of five Garo rebel groups fighting for a separate ‘Garoland’ in the western area of Meghalaya, had threatened surrendered GNLA rebels for assisting police in combing operations in Garo Hills districts.
Over 20 people, including security personnel, have been killed in the area in the last one year by GNLA rebels.
