Mizo govt agrees to CBI probe on church leader’s death
By admin • Jul 11th, 2008 • Category: UncategorizedAizawl: The Mizoram cabinet has agreed to a CBI probe on the mysterious death of Rev Chanchinmawia, a prominent church leader and President of the Mizoram People’s Forum (MPF). “During a meeting here yesterday, the cabinet decided to hand over re-investigation of the Presbyterian Church leader’s death to CBI,” Haukhum Hauzel, state chief secretary and cabinet secretary said on Thursday.
He said the cabinet noted that the mysterious death of Rev Chanchinmawia, whose body was found at his official pator’s residence at Khatla here on October one, 2007, was investigated thoroughly by the state police’s special investigation team (SIT). The SIT submitted its report to the court of the Additional District Magistrate (Judicial) on December six, 2007 and the court had accepted it, he said, quoting the cabinet meeting minutes.
“However, there seems to be people who find it difficult to accept the findings of the SIT and a lot of controversies and accusations arose on the issue which prompted the cabinet to agree to an investigation by an outside agency,” Hauzel said. The body of Rev Chanchinmawia, former moderator of the powerful Presbyterian Church of Mizoram Synod and President of the MPF, an organisation constituted by a conglomerate of churches and major NGOs to reform politics and elections in the state, was found in a pool of blood in his residence.
Police investigations concluded that there was no evidence of murder and that the church leader, who was suffering from severe depression, committed suicide by stabbing himself a number of times. Opposition parties and some organisations, however, rejected the findings of the SIT, saying that it was a case of murder. Some parties even suggested that the alleged murder was a result of a political fallout as the pastor was leader of a major reformist organisation.
Opposition parties and pressure groups like People’s Right to Information and Development of Mizoram (PRISM) have been demanding a CBI probe into his death. Even the Presbyterian Church Synod, which agreed to accord him a pastoral funeral in the church, held that his death was not suicide. (PTI)
