Shillong, July 15: The ongoing probe into the Shillong jailbreak of May 31, 2009, has turned out to be the costliest and the most time consuming judicial inquiry.

More than Rs 1 crore has been spent and three years have passed, but the probe is unending.

Seven undertrial prisoners led by the gang leader Full Moon Dhar escaped from Shillong Jail. The next day, while Dhar was killed in an alleged fake encounter, others were re-captured.

Before the judicial inquiry commission was appointed, administrative, departmental and police inquiries regarding the incident revealed that money, liquor and guns were available to the jailbreak mastermind Dhar to make his plan a success.

The delay was also because of the exit of the retired judge, D. Biswas, who was first entrusted to complete the probe.

The judicial inquiry commission constituted on July 23, 2009, was necessitated following the twists and turns into the jailbreak, including allegations of the fake encounter in which Dhar was killed.

The Biswas Inquiry Commission discontinued in April 2010, as he had to take up the official assignment of UP Lokayukta in Assam.

Later, on August 20, 2010, the government appointed the second judicial inquiry commission led by Justice (retd) S.P. Rajkhowa.

While the government spent Rs 7,49,192 for the Biswas Inquiry Commission which left the job half-done, the amount of money spent for Rajkhowa Inquiry Commission till date is Rs 11,077,91.

To defend the case, the Meghalaya government has brought in a group of advocates, including senior Supreme Court lawyer K.T.S. Tulsi from Delhi.

While the government has spent Rs 73,64,500 on Tulsi to assist the case, his travelling allowance till January 2011 was Rs 42,514.

The expenditure on assistant advocates to Tulsi — Gaurave Bhargava, Kuber Boddh and M.Y. Chiddki — was Rs 15,10,000.

Earlier, the government had spent more than Rs 1,13,40,750 for Tulsi to assist the judges who probed Tura and Williamnagar twin firing incidents of September 30, 2005.

Senior Shillong advocate V.G.K. Kynta said when there are qualified lawyers in Shillong, the government should have utilised their services instead of spending money on lawyers brought from outside.

“Besides wasting money, a lot of time is also spent and by the time the inquiry is finished, justice will be delayed to the victims. The worst part is the inaction on the part of the government on the findings of the inquiries,” Kynta said.

However, Rajkhowa, who is still probing the Shillong jailbreak case said in the past, Assam and Manipur governments had acted upon various findings of his probe reports of missing files.

The files on the expenditure related to two simultaneous judicial inquiries — Motphran and Khliehriat Inquiry Commissions — went missing from the Meghalaya secretariat.

In reply to the queries on the expenditure incurred on the judicial inquiries, the political department said the files related to two judicial inquiry commissions are missing.

“The expenditure regarding Motphran and Khliehriat Inquiry Commissions is not known, as the relevant files are untraceable, despite the arduous effort to locate them,” a source in the political department said.

The judicial inquiries have always been futile and the government instead of spending too much money on such inquiries should have some other fact-finding bodies, he added.

The Motphran incident of June 27, 1994, was the clash between the police and the Federation of Khasi Jaintia and Garo People (FKJGP) at Motphran in Mawkhar, following the arrest of its president.

While an FKJGP activist was shot in the neck in the melee, the personal security officer of the then SP was shot in the knee by an unidentified gunman and the SP (city) A.S. Rynjah was hospitalised after he was hit on the head by the goons who threw stones.

The judicial inquiry headed by retired judge T.C. Das was constituted on September 5, 1994, and the report was submitted, subsequently.

The same judge probed the incident of the police firing at Khliehriat on August 6, 1994, where a church elder of Khliehriat parish in Jaintia Hills identified as Proatssius Shylla was killed in police firing.

The commission was constituted on September 5, 1994.

Shylla was part of a group inspecting the alleged encroachment of some coal barons for mining adjacent to the church.

The retired judge T.C. Das in his comments in 1994 had said since two inquiry commissions, one on Motphran incident and another on Khliehriat was simultaneously taken up by him, the Khliehriat inquiry could not be submitted on time.

According to the request of the commission, the government had extended the date for submission of report from time to time.

Since the political department is not able to trace the file, the expenditure incurred on both the inquiries is not known and it is still a matter of speculation.

When inquired, the health department could not provide information on the expenditure incurred for another inquiry by saying the information was not available.

The inquiry commission headed by Justice Das constituted on August 2, 2006, was to probe whether the sponsorship of Reena Konsam for postgraduate studies at the Regional Institute of Medical Sciences at Imphal was in order.

The Meghalaya Medical Services Association had asked the government to scrap the sponsorship of Konsam, since it was in violation of the existing reservation policy.

However, the government had to allow her to complete the studies. The inquiry commission led by P.G. Agarwal, retired judge of Gauhati High Court, constituted at the end of 2010 to inquire into the alleged misuse of funds in the Garo Hills Autonomous District Council as well as illegal appointments, is yet to submit its report.