Arunachal: Galo welfare society demands proper investigation into Tumi Gangkak's mysterious death

Galo Welfare Society, along with Jarpum Gamlin, a renowned leader and family member of the late Tumi Gangkak, addressed the press conference at Arunachal Press Club in Itanagar to express their dissatisfaction with the police department's claims regarding the mysterious death of Tumi Gangkak.

Gamlin, who represented the family members of the deceased, stated that Tumi Gangkak belonged to his same clan, Begam society, and was like his grandfather. He rejected all the malicious and defamatory statements and claims made by the spokesperson of the police department, Sanjay Bhatia, in his interviews on April 12, 14, and 27.

"On April 12, Bhatia tried to create a narrative by stating that Tumi Gangkak died by suicide through media, and to take this mysterious death towards that perspective, he relied heavily on the post-mortem report and cited asphyxia as the cause of death," Gamlin said. "I accept that he died from asphyxia, but the actual meaning of it is that the body didn't get enough oxygen to breathe, and it can be caused from several ways as while pillow covers the mouth of someone or his neck gets submerged inside water, hanging someone also."

Gamlin pointed out that the postmortem of Tumi Gangkak states that it's suicidal by nature, but when someone examines the report thoroughly, there are many causes for it. However, Bhatia picked up the closest option and stated it as suicide.

"Second claim Bhatia mentioned in his second conference was that two blades were recovered near the site of occurrence where Tumi Gangkak found hanging, and the same brand blades were recovered from the deceased's house. This was the half truth said by Mr. Bhatia, and this is a total lie that blades got recovered from home, and he repeated this lie in his interview on 14 April in one electronic digital channel," Gamlin said.

Gamlin also mentioned that Bhatia claimed there was a deep cut on the deceased body, as if someone attempted suicide, he would have more cuts while taking his life.

"Now Bhatia, who is projecting this death as suicide, is using the depression word as the cause of death, and now in his new conference, he is creating a new theory by stating motives of suicide," Gamlin said. "Bhatia stated the deceased didn't submit the vouchers worth Rs13 lakhs 40 thousand to the commission and indicating that due to non-submission of these vouchers, deceased committed suicide. Also, it was mentioned by Bhatia that 8th certificates of confidentiality for exams of F&AO & PO, including manuscripts of exams, were found from the car of the deceased. We as a family member don't deny and accept that these papers were found from the deceased car."

"We all the Elite members of Galo Welfare Society and Galo community representing all the tribes of Arunachal came here to approach the Government for proper investigation in this sensitive case," Gamlin said. "As a representative of like-minded citizens, we expressed our deep antoishment and sadness at the progress of this case and the direction in which the police department is taking the case to create perception and agenda that this is suicide. We also urge IPS Bhatia to refrain from maligning the image of the deceased by tarnishing his image."

The Galo Welfare Society and the Galo community demanded a proper investigation into the death of Tumi Gangkak and requested the government to take necessary actions to ensure justice is served at the earliest.