Tura, June 10: The Garo National Liberation Army (GNLA) today hit out at Meghalaya director-general of police Rajiv Mehta for saying that the outfit has been luring "illiterate and jobless youths".

In a statement issued by its joint publicity secretary, Garo Mandei Marak, the GNLA said, "The work culture of both literate and illiterate cadres is different and diverse."

The statement also said that some of its cadres had surrendered recently for fear of punishment and that the cadres had failed the outfit by engaging in wrong activities. It said Darwin Shira, Dalton Sangma and Timuth Sangma, who surrendered in Shillong, were all involved in rape cases.

Shira had raped two women at gunpoint, Dalton had raped an 18-year-old girl from Tombolgre village and Timuth was found guilty for raping a teenager from Ampanggre village. The statement said the trio surrendered, as they were afraid of a trial by the outfit.

The statement said Dalton had escaped from the organisation with an AK-47 rifle, a pistol and Rs 5 lakh. "He has not surrendered the weapons and is currently associated with the A'chik Matgrik Elite Force," the statement claimed.

Nominations filed: Three Independent candidates, Seconton K. Sangma, T.R. Marak and Daewish S. Marak, filed their nominations for Chokpot byelections in Meghalaya's South Garo Hills district today, returning officer Tangseng G, Momin told PTI. With this, six candidates have filed nominations for the bypolls.