Shillong, March 2 (Inditop.com) The Bharatiya Janata Party Tuesday demanded the resignation of union Minister of State for Water Resources Vincent H. Pala in connection with a sensational jailbreak here last year.
Two undertrial prisoners who appeared before the Biswas Commission looking into the jailbreak have claimed that Fullmoon Dhar, the ringleader who is now dead, was in touch with a “Congress Lok Sabha member candidate” before he escaped from prison.
Synsharlang Thongni and Khrawborlang Marbaniang were two undertrials who, along with Dhar and four others, escaped from the Shillong jail May 31 last year. Most of them were caught again while Dhar was gunned down by police in the Jaintia Hills.
However, the undertrials did not mention the name of Pala, the Congress leader who contested and got elected from the Shillong parliamentary seat.
Pala has denied the accusation and said he was willing to testify before the commission probing the jailbreak.
“Since the union minister himself is willing to depose before the Biswas Commission, it is necessary that he is relieved from his post,” P.M. Passah, BJPs state unit general secretary, told reporters here Tuesday.
A Congress district council member from Jaintia Hills, Thomas Nongtdu, is alleged to have financed the jailbreak.
A commission of inquiry headed by Justice (Retd) D. Biswas is still probing the jailbreak. The commission constituted by the state government July 23 last year, has been asked to complete the probe, including the alleged politician-criminal nexus, and submit its findings to the government by May 31.
rounak