Additional Charges Slapped Against High-Ranking HPCD Militants

Aizawl, May 5 : The Mizoram Police has slapped additional charges under nine different IPC sections and one under the arms act against two high-ranking Hmar People’s Convention Democratic (HPCD) militants arrested from Silchar, Assam, on April 16.

HPCD’s army chief Lalropuia Famhoite and finance secretary Norbar Sanate along with one Ngurthantluanga Sanate are currently in judicial custody.

The new cases against Lalropuia Famhoite and Norbar Sanate include charges of extortion, issuing death threats, kidnapping, mischievous use of explosives and criminal intimidation, among others.

The charges relate to cases lodged in various police stations in Aizawl and Kolasib districts over the past eight years.

If convicted, the duo face imprisonment for up to a decade or more for just one of the charges, the most lengthy jail term for the explosives case.

A senior police official said more charges are likely to be slapped against them since the HPCD issued an election boycott last month. As a result, no one in 31 villages was willing to contest the rural body polls conducted in six districts On April 30.

Meanwhile, a police officer from Churachandpur has written to the Mizoram government saying “private” Ngurthantluanga Sanate is not a member of the HPCD and that his arrest might have been a case of mistaken identity. Sources said this particular matter is likely to proceed as a petition.