SENAPATI, September 18: “Who will now look after me and take me to school” cried three and half years old daughter of the missing rifleman who went missing on Sept 11, 2012 after being reportedly picked by 22Assam Rifles at a Jiribam check post.
Five days of sleepless nights and tearful days with no knowledge of his whereabouts finally broke into family joy when out of nowhere, the missing father and riflemen appeared early morning of September 16.
PW Haile Mao, 44, of Purul Atongba village is serving as a rifleman in the 5th Manipur Rifles but posted a Jagandhar, Jiribam subdivision under Imphal East Police district.
Recalling the horror and pain of being in the custody of the 22AR, Haile Mao recollected that, after his holiday at his present residence in Senapati district H/Q, he booked a Jiribam taxi and travelled on Sept 11. 2012, by evening around 7:00pm, a 22 AR check post demanded for his ID card to which, the innocent riflemen made proper identification and explanation.
Shockingly, even after producing service ID card, the victim was immediately blindfolded, slapped and interrogated for suspicious links with NSCN-K and NSCN-IM in Senapati.
Inspite of repeated appeals for innocence, PW Haile Mao was transferred to another area blindfolded where he was made to suffer in a dark room for 4 complete days.
Finally, on the evening of Sept 15, the victim was again blindfolded and hands tied driven for whole night and dropped him at a deserted house outskirts of Silchar near a village road. The AR personals before leaving threatened of shooting him death at the spot and untied his hands but left him blindfolded.
By early morning next day, Haile managed to remove the blindfold and managed to reach a tea hotel where he met a ‘Good Samaritan’ character in a Meitei man who fed him and assisted him to reach Silchar town.
He then boarded the train to Dimapur and finally reaches home much to the tearful joy and happiness of the desperate family members.
The victim is in completely exhausted and drained out condition when he was interviewed. The 22 AR officials have denied the report of picking Haile Mao. 22AR battalion was in Maram for 5 years and recently transferred to Jiribam. Truth and Justice awaits the victim till the filling of this report.