Aizawl:
The ruling Mizo National Front (MNF), on February 7, denied all allegations that the state government has links with the illegal Burmese supari syndicate.
On Saturday, a news report on an online portal had alleged that the chief minister had invited one Abu Mazumbar, whose residence in Cachar was raided by the Assam police in connection with the illegal supari syndicate on February 5, for dinner along with Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma in New Delhi last year.
In a statement released by the government on Monday, MNF general secretary Lalthanzuala Hnamte said that it was not Zoramthanga, but Sarma who had hosted the dinner.
“That the alleged dry betel nut smuggler Abu Mazumdar accompanied Mizoram chief minister Pu Zoramthanga was totally wrong. It was Assam CM who invited his minister Atul Bora and Abu Mazumdar at the dinner,” the statement read.
“If sources are to be believed, Abu Mazumdar is a top-level handler and has close relationships with Mizoram Government,” the report in the website had said and carried a photo of the said dinner where Mazumdar was present.
The link of the news report was widely shared on social media in Mizoram with several netizens rewriting it in Mizo for local consumption, among them was TBC Lalvenchhunga, a member of opposition party Zoram People’s Movement’s political affairs committee (PAC). A local newspaper also reproduced the report in Mizo in its Monday issue.
Whether or not Abu Mazumdar was part of CM Zoramthanga’s team can be fact-checked at the Delhi’s Assam House registration where the dinner was hosted by Assam CM, said MNF general secretary.