Aizawl: Three days after Mizoram Congress chief Lal Thanhawla was asked to resign as chief minister over the alleged assault on a civilian, Opposition People's Representation for Identity and Status of Mizoram (Prism) on Wednesday sought the Centre's intervention in the case in which the chief minister and his security guards were accused of misusing executive powers and assaulting a trucker on the night of January 22.

The anti-corruption watchdog-turned-political party implored the President and Prime Minister to initiate a probe into the case and take appropriate action against Lal Thanhawla and the assailants.

Prism alleged that Lalbiakzuala, a truck driver from Sihphir village near Aizawl, was beaten up by Lal Thanhawla's security guards for allegedly refusing to let the chief minister's convoy pass. The victim was hospitalised at Synod Hospital in Durtlang.

"Although the victim's father filed an FIR at Bawngkawn police station, it was later withdrawn and the investigation stopped after police officials paid Rs 50,000 to the victim's family as medical reimbursement on Tuesday," Prism said.

Earlier, the party had demanded Lal Thanhawla's resignation for failing to take action against his security guards for assaulting the trucker.

"We are irritated by the chief minister's silence. He must resign for failing to take action against his security guards for assaulting an innocent truck driver, who was travelling uphill along the narrow Kolasib-Aizawl road," Prism general secretary Lalrinzaula had said.

As reported in this paper earlier, Lalbiakzuala was allegedly physically assaulted by some security guards who escorted the chief minister when the latter was heading towards Aizawl from the Mizoram-Assam border town of Kolasib. The victim along with his three other friends were travelling in a lumber-laden truck.

While admitting that they had reasoned with and scolded the truck driver, the chief minister's security guards claimed that he refused to give way to them from two kilometres ahead of the filling station where the truck had stopped.

On the other hand, Lalbiakzuala claimed his truck was heavily loaded with lumber and was travelling on an uphill and narrow road because of which he could not let the chief minister's convoy pass till he reached a filling station at Serkhan.

"Upon arrival at the filing station, some of the chief minister's guards got down and beat me up severely," he said.