Patna, June 22: The armed insurgent group, People Revolutionary Party of Kangleipak (Prepak), which operates mostly in the Northeast, is making all efforts to establish its base in Bihar.

The startling fact came to light during interrogation of four insurgents, three from Manipur and one from Assam. They were arrested from Patna railway station on the night of June 18.

Sources in intelligence agencies said the terrorists, identified as N.T. Shanti Nitai (Assam) and L. Jiten Singh, K.L. Inocha Singh and K. BBabo (Manipur), were camping in Patna to establish their contacts with hardcore CPI(Maoist) activists operating in Gaya and Rohtas.

Though senior police officers are tight-lipped over the disclosure made by the four Prepak activists, sources said the visit of the rebels assumed significance in the wake of ideological support extended to the Prepak agitation by the CPI (Maoist).

“So far we have no evidence to show direct links of the CPI(Maoist) with any insurgent groups active in the northeastern states. But the presence of the four Prepak operatives in the state capital has certainly caused ripples in the police circles here,” a senior police officer said.

This is the first occasion when terrorists belonging to any northeastern state have been arrested in Bihar.

“There is no previous record of arrest of any militant hailing from the northeastern states in Bihar,” an officer posted at the state police headquarters said.

Sources said the arrested Prepak operatives revealed to the police that the purpose of their visit to Bihar was to seek ideological support to the agitation and establish the organisation’s base in the state.

“The two organisations have been providing ideological support to each other for long,” a police officer quoted the arrested Prepak activists as saying.

The officer added that literature seized from the armed squad members of the CPI(Maoist) activists in Bihar also gave credence to the belief that the two organisations were united on the issue of nationality. “The CPI(Maoist) literature talks about support given to agitation from Jammu & Kashmir to northeastern states,” the officer claimed. He said there was no case pending against the arrested Prepak operatives in Bihar. “As they were not involved in any criminal act in the state, we completed the formalities of handing them over to our counterparts in Manipur,” said Ram Pukar Singh, the station house officer of Patna Government Railway Police.

Rohtas superintendent of police Manu Maharaj said there have been instances of extremists haling from Chhattisgarh and Odisha taking part in operations in Bihar’s Naxalite-affected areas.

“But we have not heard of any insurgent groups’ involvement in any such operation in the state,” he added.

The four Prepak operatives were taken to Manipur from Patna by a morning flight after getting aviation clearance from the authorities concerned. “As the arrested extremists were involved in serious cases in those states, they cannot be allowed to travel with passengers without aviation clearance,” the police officer said.