Shillong: Former Assistant Inspector General (AIG) of Meghalaya Police Gabriel Iangrai on Tuesday accused of political vendetta after being rearrested from the Shillong district jail.
Iangrai was granted bail by the court in two cases—the NERS case and another related to the supply of dry rations—for misappropriation of funds.
He was released from Shillong district jail today, but soon after coming out of the gates, he was taken away by CID officials.
“I am innocent until proven guilty. Am I the only corrupt person? If I am corrupt, let the law decide, and I don’t mind being hanged if it is by the constitution, but I will not allow anyone to turn me into a scapegoat,” the Meghalaya Police Service officer said.
“They are preventing me from speaking and exposing them. This is a political vendetta. It started with an inquiry, and during the inquiry, they leaked the report, claiming that they were scared that I might tamper with the evidence. They are actually scared that I might expose them,” Iangrai said.
He did not, however, reveal to whom he was referring.
“There is a 20-year-old case with prominent people involved, some retired and some on the verge of retiring,” Iangrai said. “But they don’t dare investigate that case.”
Iangrai claimed his arrest was part of a major plot and executed by the “same masterminds” who were behind the surrendered Hynniewtrep National Liberation Council Chairman Cheristerfield Thangkhiew encounter.
Thangkhiew was gunned down by the state police at his residence.
The police had said Thangkhiew was killed in self-defence after the former militant tried to attack a raiding police team.
“On November 2, (2022), when I came to know that they would reach my house, I had to hide because I was scared that they would replicate the Cheristerfield episode because they are the same – the same masterminds,” Iangrai claimed.
