Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Saturday asserted in the assembly that the police firing in Mukroh along the boundary of Meghalaya in November was an act of self-defence and to protect government properties.
Meghalaya Deputy Chief Minister Prestone Tynsong, however, said that what Sarma said “may not necessarily be the truth” and claimed that the Assam chief minister’s speeches inside and outside the assembly are different.
Reacting to Sarma’s assertion, the Meghalaya deputy CM said, “That may not necessarily be the truth. A fair assessment of the situation that had claimed the lives of several people will unveil the truth.”
The Meghalaya government is waiting for the report by a central agency and a one-man judicial inquiry commission tasked with probing into the violence, Tynsong told PTI in Shillong.
“Outside the House, the Assam CM has suspended the policemen involved in the violence and had taken appropriate actions. Inside the House today, it is a different story,” he said.
Sarma on 23 November had said in New Delhi that Assam Police used force in an “unprovoked, uncontrolled and arbitrary” manner.
Read more: Mukroh police firing act of self-defence: Himanta
Violence had broken out at the Assam-Meghalaya border in the early hours of 22 November after a truck allegedly laden with illegally felled timber was intercepted by forest guards from Assam. Six people, including a forest guard of Assam, were gunned down in clashes.
A beat office of the Assam Forest department was destroyed by a mob on 22 November following the death of six people.
Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma had on 20 December said the violence in Mukroh village could have been averted had all agencies of the two state governments kept “proper coordination and communication”.