GUWAHATI
The Meghalaya Police have registered a case against unidentified two-wheeler riders for attempting to murder an IPS officer during a routine road check on Friday (September 18, 2026).
The police suspect the riders were members of the Khasi Students’ Union (KSU), a pressure group with a history of violence.
Dangsan Khyriem, the Superintendent of Police (City) of East Khasi Hills district, said in a statement that Additional Superintendent of Police (Traffic) Lovish Garg was seriously injured after a two-wheeler allegedly hit him while he was conducting a road check in the Urkaliar area of Shillong at around 1.30 a.m.
Shillong, Meghalaya’s capital, is also the headquarters of the East Khasi Hills district.
He said two males on a two-wheeler tried to evade the police checking and “proceeded aggressively”. Mr. Garg signalled the riders to stop, but they accelerated and hit him instead.
The IPS officer was rushed to a private hospital for treatment. He was under observation after a minor surgery.
The two riders were taken into custody, but their identities were not revealed.
“The circumstances indicate that the act was deliberate and appears to have been intended to cause grievous injury to the officer and escape from being checked. The accused are suspected to be members of the KSU. The motive for their movement at that hour of the night and attempting to escape the naka is being ascertained through a thorough investigation,” the statement read.
The police said a case under the attempt to murder provisions has been registered at the police station concerned. They said road checks would continue for public safety, and law and order, warning that attempts to evade such checks or obstruct personnel on duty would be dealt with according to the law.
The incident occurred amid heightened security and intensified road checks across Shillong following a series of petrol bomb attacks, targeting government and police infrastructure, allegedly to exert pressure on the government to release at least six KSU leaders held for violence during its protest bike rally on August 19.
Wearing masks and riding bikes with covered registration plates, the participants of the KSU rally went on the rampage, assaulting bystanders with sticks and iron rods, smashing windows and lights of vehicles, and setting one of the vehicles ablaze.
A majority of the 31 vehicles targeted were Assam-registered, and many of those assaulted were non-locals and non-tribal people.
The attacks triggered a backlash in Assam, with taxi associations preventing Meghalaya-registered vehicles from entering the State. A high-level meeting between stakeholders of the two States helped resolve the crisis after a few days.
Published – September 19, 2026 03:02 am IST
