SHILLONG, January 31: The Home Minister of Meghalaya,Lahkmen Rymbui said that the police have arrested a boy under 18 years of age and also took his friend into custody on suspicion of being involved in the IED bomb blast in Khyndailad on Sunday evening.
As per the statement of Rymbui, the boy who has been arrested is from Demthring area. The police after arresting the boy suspected of being involved in the blast also took another friend of his from Nongstoiñ,West Khasi Hills into custody to continue with further investigation.
Rymbui said that after the blast, the police force has within a few hours arrested one boy from his residence and seized an unused IED bomb which the police have deactivated, and took the boy into custody to follow up with their investigation and informed the police to follow the procedures as per the Juvenile Justice Act. He said that the public have in this instance given their full cooperation and enabled the police to arrest the people suspected of being involved in the incident.
On being asked if the arrested persons are supporters of HNLC, the Minister said that the police have to search for the people involved in the criminal act without alleging or pointing at anyone but will search firstly for the culprits while refusing to say anything on the responsibility claimed by the HNLC on the incident but he also said that the law will take its due course in punishing the culprits involved.
He said that at present the police have to be allowed to conduct their thorough investigation till they can conclusively present the truth.
On being asked further, the Minister denied that there is a lapse in the intelligence department of the police by stating that if the intelligence department of the police is weak then they should not have been able to make any arrests within a few hours. He said that the police are vigilant and extremely cautious but they do need to better improve their operations as per the modern times.
