Shillong, Jan 6: Police have registered a case following the death of a labourer identified as Ashok Tamang in a blast recently.
He was admitted to Civil Hospital Shillong on December 23 last year after being referred from Sutnga Community Health Centre (CHC) and subsequently succumbed to his injuries on January 1.
Tamang is from Lad Rymbai.
The CHC staff did not inform the police about the incident.
The recent social media posts pointed out the deaths of two people, including Tamang, after a blasting incident.
It is not clear whether the blast took place in a stone quarry or a coal mine in East Jaintia Hills.
During his treatment, Tamang told the doctors that he sustained burn injuries while handling explosives (dynamite) at his workplace.
After the retired Justice BP Katakey sought a report on the incident, the Meghalaya Human Rights Commission on Tuesday took suo motu action and asked the SP to cause an inquiry into the incident.
A video of the blast victims was circulated recently.
“We will be giving all the details because there are two things at play – the video and the death of Ashok Tamang. We will have to examine both sides as these are different matters”, the SP Vikash Kumar said.
On the video of blast victims linking the incident to Thangsko village, Kumar said: “As per preliminary investigation, it is not from that village…The headman and other members of Thangsko village stated they do not recognize the people in the video, the speaker, or the location. We cannot ascertain that a dynamite blast occurred there”.
The police official is surprised as to Sutnga Community Health Centre did not inform the police about the incident when the victim was brought there.
The police were informed about the matter only through the Shillong civil hospital’s police booth, leading to the registration of the case.
