New Delhi: After being in hiding for nearly a month-and-a-half, Nidamon Chullet, the prime accused in the assault case involving Meghalaya activists Agnes Kharshiing and Amita Sangma, has surrendered to the East Jaintia Hills police. Chullet is a leader of the ruling National People’s Party (NPP).On November 8, Kharshiing, Sangma and their driver E. Kurbah were attacked by a group of 40 people – allegedly led by Chullet – in the East Jaintia Hills district after they complained to the local police about illegal mining and transportation of coal. They were later rescued by the police and rushed to a hospital. The news of the attack created a sensation in the state. So far, eight people have been arrested in connection with the case.While Sangma was released from the North Eastern Indira Gandhi Regional Institute of Health & Medical Sciences on November 30, Kharshiing left for home on December 11. Both are yet to fully recover. Sangma and Kharshiing are part of the well-known NGO Civil Society Women’s Organisation.Also read: In Photos: As Activist Recovers from Attack, Illegal Coal Mining Continues in MeghalayaAccording to a local media report from December 27, Chullet surrendered two days earlier, on December 25 – followed by another accused, Cheerful K. Ryngkhlem on December 26 – before the East Jaintia Hills SP Sylvester Nongtnger and the deputy SP Gilbert Marshillong. However, when contacted by The Wire, Marshillong, who is also the investigating officer in the case, refused to comment. He instead suggested that SP Nongtnger be contacted “for details” as he “is not authorised to speak and keep in touch with media personnel”.SP Nongtnger, on his part, has been incommunicado. Interestingly, on November 9, an FIR lodged against Nongtnger by one Marshal Biam – chairman of a local civil society group North East Indigenous People’s Federation – at the district’s Khliehriat police station. Biam had accused the SP of forcing him to withdraw complaints against coal dealers, and that very day he reportedly escaped an attempt on his life, allegedly by coal dealers.As many as seven people, as per the FIR, assaulted him and thereafter pulled him into a vehicle and took him to the SP’s office. The SP, thereafter, asked Biam to withdraw the complaints made by people associated with his organisation.Confirming Chullet’s surrender, The Shillong Times on December 27 stated: “Chullet, who is also the president of the Jaintia Hills Truck Owners and Drivers Association, was accompanied by lawyer B. Goyal and some of his close relatives” to the police station. Chullet is the working president of NPP’s East/West Jaintia Hills districts.On being questioned about Chullet’s arrest, Amita Sangma said that the fact that it took so long for him to surrender only showed that he enjoys political patronage from the ruling party. “We, therefore, have no trust in the state police and the administration for an impartial probe into the brutal attack on us. An attempt was made under Chullet’s direction to murder us that day. By dint of sheer luck, we survived,” she said.Sangma added, “We saw Chullet overseeing the loading of coal illegally mined in the district into trucks. We clicked photos of it. It was then we were attacked. He himself hit both of us.”Also read: Interview | Agnes Kharshiing, the Woman Meghalaya’s Coal Mafia Tried to SilenceOn December 18, Sangma filed an appeal before the Meghalaya high court seeking a CBI inquiry into the case. Besides submitting a list of prominent politicians of the state “and their involvement in the coal business”, her appeal also included the FIR registered by Biam to highlight “the very close nexus between the state police and the coal mafia”.NPP leader Nidamon Chullet posing with Meghalaya chief minister and party chief Conrad Sangma in February 2018.Importantly, her appeal also included a photograph of chief minister Conrad Sangma posing “in a friendly fashion with the assailant himself” – meaning, Chullet – “as if they were old friends”. The photograph was said to have been taken in February.Sangma’s lawyer Fareed told The Wire from Shillong, “The case will come up for hearing in February when the court opens after the winter break.”On November 20, the state government ordered an inquiry into the case to be carried out by a retired judge. However, the state is yet to appoint the judge.The Shillong Times report said, “The state government has been maintaining that an independent inquiry will be the best option but the delay of over a month in instituting the inquiry has raised doubts about its sincerity.”