Staff Reporter

ROING, 7 Oct: Renowned RTI activist of Dibang Valley district and Rifleman Rakhini Mipi was reportedly found dead under mysterious circumstances at Hunli in Lower Dibang Valley district on Sunday morning.

Officer-in-Charge of Hunli Police Station, Inspector Mohon Mili, informed The Arunachal Times that the body of the late Mipi was found hanging in the bathroom of the army transit camp near the Circuit House at Hunli on Sunday morning at about 7:10 am.

OC Mili added that the late Mipi was heading to Anini for an Armed Forces warfare exercise with his unit, the 24th Assam Rifles (AR). The AR unit arrived at Hunli on the evening of 3 October for transit and was supposed to proceed to Anini on the morning of 4 October.

"A case of unnatural death has been registered at Hunli Police Station, and the matter is under investigation," said SP Ringu Ngupok.

The Lower Dibang Valley police informed that the body was brought to Roing for post-mortem and, after the formalities, was handed over to the family members.

The police did not rule out foul play in the death of the RTI activist. They said, however, that the investigation into a possible foul-play angle would be taken up only after recording the statements of the deceased's family members. The police informed that they are yet to record the statements of late Mipi's family members.

Late Rakhini Mipi was an armed forces personnel and a firebrand RTI activist. He had exposed several projects plagued by corruption, including Jal Jeevan Mission projects in both Dibang Valley districts.

Late Mipi had also spoken out against the Siang Upper Multipurpose Project, questioning why the authorities were forcibly attempting to conduct the pre-feasibility report (PFR) when the local populace was opposing the dam.

On 10 August, through his social media handles, he raised concern over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in Dibang Valley district, alleging that a considerable number of non-APSTs had been enrolled, triggering fears of gerrymandering in the near future.

He had also taken on the NHIDCL by filing a petition in the National Green Tribunal, Kolkata, against the NHIDCL and the EPC contractors of NH-313 over alleged environmental violations.