ITANAGAR, Jun 9: The gruesome murder case of a tea gardener that had rocked Namsai about four year back has been almost solved by the Special Investigating Team (SIT) with the arrest of one of the prime accused in the case.
Earlier on August 8, 2017, neck slashed body of late Uday Malar was found near a tea garden at Dhoni Kona Village, Namsai. During the investigation, names of Mojen Moran and Babul Neog came forward as main suspects but the duo was at large since then and the Namsai police has also carried out activities and later the SIT was pursuing the case.
However, all this changed on Tuesday with the arrest of Moran (28) from Kakajan Village in Tinsukia, Assam.
Addressing a press briefing at the conference hall of PHQ, here today, SIT SP Rohit Rajbir Singh said that this particular unsolved murder case was a “blot on the SIT” as the case was handed over in confidence to the SIT by the Namsai police in the year 2018.
Terming solving of the case as a “brilliant piece of detective work”, SP Singh informed that a team led by SI Kamnu Wangsu had to work from scratch since 2018 in tracing out either of the accused.
Singh informed that after getting an intelligence input in February this year, the whereabouts of Moran was suspected to be somewhere in the general area under Philobari PS, Tinsukia, Assam, but nothing was concrete.
“The Assam elections served us with an opportunity to make use of the updation exercise of voters’ list, and we found out that Mojen Moran was recently registered as an active voter in Doom Dooma Circle of Tinsukia district, Assam,” said SP SIT.
He added that after confirming Moran’s identity and ascertaining his presence, an SIT team comprising of inspector Ashok Tayeng, SI K Wangsu, SI Maharaj, HC Thomas Drai, HC T Dolo, constables D Dorjee, T Giba, N Riba, P Diyum, C Chakap, and lady constable E Modi was deployed and they successfully arrested Moran.
SP Singh informed that Moran has confessed to his involvement in the crime but is shifting the blame on the co-accused. He added that according to Moran, the act was committed over a petty monetary dispute arising out of sale of cannabis.
“On the fateful day, Mojen, along with his associate Babul, formulated a plan to eliminate Uday Malar due to their ongoing issues. In the dark of night, the two accused persons lured the victim on the pretext of sorting things out by discussion, but instead attacked him on the neck with a dao, and kept slashing till he died. They then fled the scene of crime, and changed their whereabouts constantly, thus evading arrest for such a long period,” said SP Singh.
Meanwhile, asserting confidence that co-accused Babul will also be arrested soon, the SP SIT informed that they will now also investigate the drug trade angle that has come to light during the investigation.
