SHILLONG:
Twenty-five-year-old Shynshar Khymdeit on Tuesday outrightly denied his involvement in serving demand notes to several businesspeople in the name of the proscribed Hynniewtrep National Liberation Council (HNLC).
“I am not involved in serving any demand notes to anybody,” Synshar told reporters a day after his name again reappeared in one of the vernacular newspapers which reported that a woman from Mawlai had alleged that he had served her with a Rs 20 lakh demand note. The woman who refused to reveal her identity had also requested the intervention of the Hynniewtrep National Youth Front (HNYF) East Khasi Hills president Bless Dkhar into the matter.
Earlier, Synshar’s name was also reported to have appeared in a demand note as HNLC area collector (East Khasi and Ri Bhoi).
Synshar, who identified himself as a daily wage labourer, informed that he has immediately filed an FIR with the Mawlai police station against the misuse of his name.
“I don’t know how my name came up in the demand notes. I was informed firstly by my elder brother about a demand note with my name on it which was published in a newspaper. I thought he was joking. I thought the picture in the newspaper was edited. But after reading the newspaper, I decided to go to the police station to report the matter,” he said.
“I thought I had filed the FIR and my name will not come up again but yesterday, my name again reappeared in the newspaper where a woman had alleged that I was the one serving demand notes to her and I was surprised,” he added.
Synshar further denied having anything to do with the HNLC and said, “Not only the HNLC but I am not even a member of any group. I am neither associated with the HNLC nor with any group.”
“I am also not related to Julius Dorphang (a former MLA and former HNLC Chairman, who was jailed for sexually assaulting a minor girl),” he added.
According to him, he had gone to the police station by himself and not that they had summoned him or anything.
Synshar’s brother Kyrshan Khymdeit said, “Our brother has never been involved in such illegal activities. The moment the report came out in Mawphor, immediately we went to the police station to file an FIR. However, after seeing that the HNLC is also searching for Synshar and the HNYF had also threatened him, then we understand that this will pose a serious threat to our brother, so we called the president of HNYF Sadon Blah and in good faith we requested them to help us reach out to the people to clarify that Synshar’s name has been misused and that he is not involved in such illegal extortion.”
Kyrshan also requested the police department to speed up the investigation and nab the culprits behind misusing his brother’s name and putting his life at risk.
Meanwhile, Dkhar informed that Khymdeit had come to the HNYF’s office to clarify on the matter and had also spoken to the HNLC vice chairman Manbhalang Jyrwa.
“Therefore, we again request all people, who have been served with such demand notes to come forward as the HNYF is ready to help them since the HNLC has already clarified that they are not involved in serving such extortion notes to businesspeople,” he added.