Guwahati, June 6 : The Jewel Garlosa faction of the Dima Haolam Daogah (DHD), a Dimasa tribe based militant outfit, which held the North Cachar Hills district of Assam to ransom, has suffered a double blow with the arrest of its self-styled "commander-in-chief" Jewel Gorlosa and killing of one of its top functionaries Frankie Dimasa by police.
Reports said a combined force of Assam Police and Karnataka Police arrested Gorlosa along with two of his aides Partha Nunisa and Samir Dimasa from a hotel in Bangalore on Wednesday.
Reports said a combined force of Assam Police and Karnataka Police arrested Gorlosa along with two of his aides Partha Nunisa and Samir Dimasa from a hotel in Bangalore on Wednesday.
|
Acting on intelligence inputs, a four-member team of Assam Police was camping in the Karnataka capital for the past four days to nab Garlosa, the sources said.
The team was to have moved Court for a transit remand to bring Garlosa to Guwahati on Friday, the sources added.
Hours after Gorlosa's arrest, police gunned down the foreign secretary of the outfit, Frankie Dimasa, in an encounter in Guwahati in the wee hours of Thursday.
"Acting on a tip off that some militants were taking shelter on the hilltop at Bishnupur, we launched an operation early in the morning and in the resultant encounter, Frankie Dimasa was killed," ASP Debojit Deuri said.
He added that at least two other militants managed to escape under the cover of darkness.
"The arrest of the Black Widow chief and killing of its foreign secretary is a major achievement for us," said IGP (Law and Order) B Mahanta.
It may be mentioned that the Assam Police intensified their operations against militants, in particular the Black Widow, ever since the chief of North Cachar Hills Autonomous Council, Mohit Hojai was arrested and handed over to the National Investigating Agency for his alleged involvement with insurgent groups, mainly Black Widow.
The Black Widow, formed in 2002, is a breakaway faction of the DHD, led by Dilip Nunisa.
The DHD has been in a ceasefire with the Government for the past few years.
Both the factions are demanding a separate State of Dimaraji comprising Dimasa dominated areas in NC Hills, Karbi Anglong, Cachar, parts of Nagaon district in Assam, besides Dimapur and Dhansiripar in Nagaland.
The Black Widow unleashed a reign of terror in NC Hills in the past few months.
Work for two Central projects - East-West Corridor and railway gauge conversion has been stalled while train services on Lumding-Badarpur route has been suspended for an indefinite period in the wake of the attacks by the Black Widow.