Outlawed GNLA's chief gets bail in one more case

Champion R. Sangma, who headed the outlawed Garo National Liberation Army (GNLA) in Meghalaya, has been granted bail in one more case. However, he continues to be in jail since there are more pending cases against him.

"Sangma was granted bail yesterday (Monday) by the court of the First Class Magistrate in Tura, D. Marbaniang, in connection with cases registered against him in Tura," Sangma's legal counsel Sujit Dey told IANS Tuesday.

Tura, the district headquarters of West Garo Hills, is about 323 km from Shillong, the capital of Meghalaya.

Dey also said he would soon move the court seeking bail for Sangma in the other two pending cases.

Sangma is now awaiting bail in a Meghalaya Preventive Detention Act case slapped on him by the district magistrate of Williamnagar in East Garo Hills and another case in the Shillong sessions court in East Khasi Hills.

Sangma, whose outfit is fighting for a separate Garoland, was arrested July 30, 2012, near the India-Bangladesh border in Meghalaya. The state government terminated his services with the police in July 2010.

Sangma was wanted for masterminding several crimes, including killings and extortion in insurgency-ravaged Garo Hills in western Meghalaya.

He has been booked under various sections of the Indian Penal Code and for waging war against the state.

The outfit, outlawed by the central government, forged an operational alliance with the United Liberation Front of Asom and the National Democratic Front of Bodoland, which provided it access to sophisticated arms and ammunition, and enabled it to unleash a reign of terror in the five impoverished districts of Garo Hills.

GNLA rebels, who number around 100, unleashed terror in three impoverished districts of Garo Hills in the last one year and killed over 50 people, including security personnel.