Mitali Palnitkar
Published On: January 14, 2022 at 14:03 IST
The Nagaland government had constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to Probe the civilian killings by the security forces in Mon district on December 4 and 5, 2021. The security forces had killed 14 civilians. The SIT will be submitting the final report once it receives the forensic results.
The SIT comprises of 21 officers, which include four officers from Konyak tribe (the tribe to which the deceased belong). Limasunep Jamir, who is the Inspector General of Police is the Chief Investigating Officer (CIO).
The SIT was divided into eight teams. Four of the eight teams examined the witnesses and survivors. While in the remaining four teams, each was assigned with a different task like collecting evidences, doing cyber technical analysis, comparing documents, and coordinating with forensics.
On January 13, 2022, Sandeep Tamgadge, the Nagaland Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order) and Supervisor of SIT stated that 85 civilians, 37 security personnel had been examined which also included 31 army personnel. He also said that the soil and blood samples had been sent to the Central Forensic Science Laboratories.
On December 4, 2021, a team of 31 army personnel had shot 6 coal ministers and 7 villagers in the Oting-Tiru area. On December 5, a civilian was killed in Mon. Subsequently, Suo Motu case was registered in Tizit police station.
The case got transferred to the State Crime Police Station, Kohima and the SIT was constituted by the State government on December 5. The investigation was asked to be completed in one month.
The SIT had issued notices to the army under Section 91 of Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC). This directed to collect documents of those involved in the operation.
Tamgadge emphasized that the primary objective of SIT was to conduct a professional investigation so that proper evidences are produced in the Court.
