Shillong, May 19 : Meghalaya police have sought the help of headmen of various localities in the city to furnish the antecedents of new residents.
The move comes in the wake of the arrest of the Karbi Longri North Cachar Hills Liberation Front chief Pongbi Dilli from here on May 14. Dilli had come here to meet some friends.
A senior police official today said though in the past, the police had repeatedly appealed to the headmen of several localities here to verify the details of the people, including students, who stay in rented houses, so far there has been no favourable action from the headmen.
The official said in the past, the police had caught some militants who had taken admissions in some of the colleges here.
The official cited the case of the general secretary of the HNLC, Cherishstarfield Thangkhiew, who had resided in a locality in Shillong a few years back in a clandestine manner, without the knowledge of the police.
“Shillong with its floating population is an ideal place for militants to carry on with their clandestine operations and unless the headmen and others co-operate, we may find it difficult to track their activities,” city SP Claudia Lyngwa said.
The police said criminals could get fake residential certificates from the places where they come and the responsibility lies on the headmen to check their antecedents and inform the police.
According to the police, there is an urgent need on the part of headmen and other organisations here to alert them on the movement of suspicious persons.
The police in the past had carried out the drill of seeking names of the people who are not permanent residents of the city. But as it was a cumbersome process, the drill could not be sustained.