Meghalaya minister's PSO held for assaulting two truck drivers

A personal security officer (PSO) of Meghalaya cabinet minister Krymen Shylla has been arrested along with his aides in West Jaintia Hills district for allegedly assaulting two truck drivers, a senior police officer said here Friday.

Constable Thmubait I Dhar and his aides, Chanky Lhuid and Deibormi, attacked the two truckers, who were part of a fleet transporting coal to Bangladesh from Bhutan via Dawki in Meghalaya, he said.

"The arrests were made around 3.30 am on Thursday after the Jowai police control room received a call about a ruckus at a roadside dhaba in Riat Turiem area of the district. The PSO has been suspended following his arrest," the officer told PTI.

Shylla, when contacted, said he was yet to gather details about the incident.

The social welfare minister also asserted that the "the truth will come out only after police inquiry".

The injured drivers - Passang Dorji from Bhutan and Jity Kami from West Bengal - had to seek medical aid from a nearby clinic, the senior police officer said.

"In his complaint, Kami said three persons in civil dresses, claiming to be all policemen, entered the dhaba and enaged in a heated altercation with them. One of them took out a pistol and hit them with its lever after lining them up in front of the trucks," he stated quoting the FIR.

Kami also alleged that Dhar and his aides damaged the headlights and the indicators of their trucks, the officer said, adding that police were on the lookout for the constable's pistol that went missing after the incident.

According to Shacha Wangchuk, one of the truck drivers who witnessed Thursday's incident, Bhutan has been regularly exporting coal to Bangladesh via Dawki-Tamabil, ever since the National Green Tribunal banned mining and transportation in Meghalaya.