Arunachal Pradesh: 10 months on, family of former MLA (Lt) Ngurang Pinch await justice

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TNT News | October 09, 2018

Ten months on, a 27-yr-old daughter along with 9 members of her family await justice for her deceased father who died in Arunachal Pradesh on the fateful day of November 18, 2017. They believe that he was murdered.

Former MLA of Doimukh constituency and the then Arunachal Pradesh Agriculture Marketing Board (APAMB) Chairman, Ngurang Pinch was found dead at Hatimatha in Papum Pare district in November last in Arunachal Pradesh.

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Pinch with eight-member team had gone for rafting on Friday and stayed on the river bank near the confluence of Popum and Poma rivers, Papum Pare as per the statement of the then Superintendent of Police, Tumme Amo. However, Pinch was found missing early in the morning and his body was found floating at Hatimatha in between Basar Nallo and Rana Ghat on the Assam side.

However, his family comprising his wife, three sons and 6 daughters strongly believe that he was murdered.

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Claiming that there were several loopholes in the case, the family had called for time-bound investigation by the SIT, so that culprit(s) do not get an opportunity to destroy the evidence.

Following this, the case was handed by the state government to the SIT.

The family had also lodged two FIRs. Many prominent personalities, including former ministers Tater Kipa and Atum Welly were also part of the rafting team with Ngurang Pinch.

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By January 22, 2018, police had arrested three persons in this regard. The police said that all three were arrested on different grounds.

However Pinch's family members continued to demand for a CBI investigation alleging that the state crime branch failed to act against a few people.

Acting upon the family's demands, in the month of July this year, Arunachal Pradesh Government handed over the case to CBI.

However, even after two months, there was no concrete report of what might have happened to the deceased.

And now, Ngurang Reena, daughter of the deceased is seeking justice for her father who she strongly feels was murdered. She has rolled out an online petition via change.org and 6270 people have already signed the petition until the filing of this report.

In her petition, she says, "After long eight months of persistence- sending incessant emails and messages to the media houses, publishing stories and reaching out to the PM's office, the President and The MOS State Kiren Rijuju, I had the urge to give up, I was exasperated. I felt like the country didn't care about the helpless and voiceless. Many news channel and journalists' shut the door on me saying I am a JNU student, it is a political/criminal case, "We don't want to get involved." And if nothing, it is a trivial "North East story!", I cried in pain. But in the month of July 2018, when the Arunachal government headed our appeals and recommended my father's case to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), I breathe a sigh of relief. Unfortunately, it's been two moths, and there has been no development. My family and I are still awaiting confirmation from the CBI, on whether they will take up the case."

Ngurang Reena has been pressing for an independent and a fair investigation on her father's death.

The petition link along with her statement can be found here– Help Ngurang Reena and her family in seeking justice for her father, who was murdered.

The writer can be reached at shweta@thenortheasttoday.com and shwetarajkanwar@gmail.com