BSF, villagers clash at Dawki

Shillong, July 10 : Tension prevailed at Bakur village in Dawki after a confrontation between the BSF and the residents last night.

A group of residents, led by the village headman of Bakur village headman, Markos Khonglah, allegedly hit a BSF constable with a blunt object, injuring him.

The Jaintia Hills superintendent of police, M.K. Singh, said according to the complaint lodged by the BSF around 11.30pm yesterday, there was a confrontation between the BSF and the local residents.

The police arrested the headman on the basis of the complaint but he was later released, as the offence was bailable under Sections 325 353 and 34 of the IPC.

On their part, the villagers claimed that the BSF personnel on duty were drunk.

They said one of the jawans was injured when he allegedly tried to scale the wall of the residence of the headman, who had objected to the constables drinking in the village.

In his complaint, the headman said that he had asked three BSF constables, who sat drinking on a footpath in Bakur village last night, not to do so in a public place.

When he returned home, one of the BSF personnel tried to force their way into his residence and in the confrontation, the headman hit the constable.

The BSF, in an FIR filed at Dawki police station said three local residents, including the village headman, were drunk and beat up the constable besides hitting him with a blunt object.

A counter complaint filed by the headman, however, alleged that the constable was at fault.

The villagers said the BSF had no right to trespass into the house of village headman and instead, should have contacted the police.

The BSF public relations officer, Ravi Gandhi, said for the last seven days, the BSF had intensified night patrols in the area to check smuggling and the incident may be the result of some misunderstanding.

The injured constable, with five stitches on his head, was brought to Shil- long where his condition was stated to be stable, Gandhi added.

Tight security in Shillong ahead of Sonia’s visit

SHILLONG, Apr 13 : Security has been tightened in Shillong in view of a shutdown call given by a rebel tribal group to protest against Congress party president Sonia Gandhi’s visit on Monday.

A 24-hour shutdown called by Khasi rebel group Hynniewtrep National Liberation Council (HNLC) started at 6:00 a.m.

Around 1,500 armed police personnel have been pressed into service to avoid any kind of untoward incident ahead of her visit.

A team of Special Protection Group (SPG) met state police officials to review security arrangements.

Governor Ranjit Shekhar Mooshahary also held review meetings with senior state government and police officials.

Meanwhile, patrolling has been intensified and control rooms have been set up for emergency.

Nagaland & Assam enter final

North East T20

Amit Sinha

Guwahati/Shillong, Feb 28 : Assam will take on Nagaland in the final of the 1st North East Twenty20 cricket tournament at the Polo Ground in Shillong tomorrow.

In the semi-final matches at the same venue today, Assam drubbed Sikkim by six wickets and Nagaland scrapped past hosts Meghalaya by eight runs to book their final berths.

Gokul Sharma, who had taken four wickets against Mizoram yesterday, gave another sterling performance along with Swarupam Purkaystha, picking up three wickets each to help Assam to restrict Sikkim to 101 for eight after the latter elected to bat after winning the toss. 

Devender Kumar was the only notable contributor with the bat for Sikkim, playing a steady hand of 30 off 51 balls.

Assam had no problem in achieving the Sikkim score with Amit Sinha leading the way with 42 off 33 balls. Pritam Debnath made 19 off 10 balls. Kulbeer Rawat and Paijor Tamang took two wickets each for Sikkim.

The only change in the Assam playing eleven came in the form of Dhiraj Goswami, who replaced Ranjit Mali, said Assam coach Subhrajit Saikia.

“Dhiraj Goswami also captained the side,” Saikia said, hoping that the pitches would assist spinners more than the medium pacers who were finding it difficult to control the ball.

Purkayastha had captained the side in the first match. Assam will be fielding an unchanged side in the final. “We will retain the winning combination,” Saikia added.

If the Assam-Sikkim encounter in the morning was a one-sided affair, the second match between Nagaland and Meghalaya was anything but. 

Batting first after winning the toss, Nagaland posted a competitive 133 for eight in 20 overs with Deepak Sinha scoring 30 off 39 balls and Imliwati 24 off 17 balls.

Babloo Passah took two wickets for Meghalaya. 

In reply, hosts Meghalaya fell short of the winning total by eight runs with the seasoned Mark Ingty scoring 29 off 30 balls and Jason Lamare contributing 22 off 21 balls.

Pinku Deb took two wickets for Nagaland.