"Powerful people involved in Arunachal scribe shooting case"

In a joint statement, the Arunachal Press Club (APC) and the Arunachal Pradesh Union of Working Journalists today alleged that the police were trying to shield the culprit as powerful people were involved in the case.

Gunmen shot and seriously injured Tongam Rina, associate editor of the Arunachal Times from close range when she was entering her office in the evening that day.

Rina had meanwhile recovered and resumed her duties in the paper, the first English newspaper of the state owned by former chief minister Gegong Apang, but journalists were unhappy as there was no progress in the case.

Initially scribes were given to understand that the case had been handed over to the CBI, but later there was a report that it was turned down by the CBI. The government did not clarify it despite repeated pleas, the statement said.

So the case was in the hands of the Capital Police but there was no update from them in this regard. When enquired by APC members, some officers privately said "powerful people are involved and therefore it is tough to investigate the case," it said demanding the police to name those "powerful people".

"The way the police are trying to suppress the case, we doubt their integrity and have a general feeling that the police are trying to shield the culprit involved in the case," the two organisations said in the statement.