SHILLONG, June 25 � Meghalaya police may have got alleged rapist cop, Nurul Islam in judicial custody after two years of search everywhere, even in Bangladesh, while Islam was just a peek away from the Meghalaya Police headquarters.
Islam was granted bail last evening, but dramatically, Meghalaya police sent a letter late in the evening with a prayer not to release him. Thereafter, District Session judge B Mawrie �recalled� her order and sent Islam to 14 days judicial custody.
But all these years Islam was declared as an absconder by the Police. Home Minister Roshan Warjri has repeatedly said, even in the Assembly, that the police don�t know where Islam has gone into hiding. Islam�s assets were frozen and his family hounded and harassed.
�No, it is not a fact, as the police are making all out efforts to nab the culprit,� was Warjri�s reply in the Assembly this March, when the Opposition asked if the Police have given up efforts to arrest Islam.
Islam is a former Meghalaya Police Sub-Inspector and from June 2013, he is wanted for the alleged rape of two minor girls at gunpoint in Ampati, South West Garo Hills. Ampati incidentally is the home constituency of Chief Minister Mukul Sangma.
He fled from police custody a day after his arrest in 2013 from Tura West Garo Hills and remained untraced, as claimed by the police, until his arrest yesterday.
But had the Director General of Police been inquisitive enough and possibly opened his office window he could have caught a glimpse of Islam standing trial at the District Session Court below. The Court is just below the police headquarters.
�Nurul Islam appeared before the Chief Judicial Magistrate�s Court here at least on two occasions during the end of 2013 and beginning of 2014,� sources told The Assam Tribune. Islam appeared in person once before the Court of CJM, Balram Joshi and next before CJM, KL Nongbri, the sources added. Islam had pleaded for transfer of his case from Tura to Shillong, as he claimed before the High Court that there was threat to his life in Garo Hills. The High Court asked Islam to appear before the District Session Court, Shillong.
The District Session Court recorded Islam�s appearance and asked for the report from the Investigation Officer of Ampati. However, the IO sent the report through registered letter to the CJM�s Court that there was no threat to his life.
The Court here disposed off the matter stating it has no jurisdiction over the case. Islam walked free. All these were during 2013-14, the sources informed.
�Why didn�t the IO come to Shillong from Ampati or the Police here didn�t arrest Islam, when they clearly knew he was appearing before the Court during 2013-14,� the source insisted.
Meanwhile, Islam�s family is trying to approach the High Court for relief in the case.