Guwahati, June 4: Security forces deployed in Assam’s North Cachar Hills district today sounded a warning that the Dima Halam Daogah (Jewel) may have been weakened with the arrest of its maverick chief Jewel Gorlosa but it still had some “determined” leaders to carry out terror strikes.
The challenge before the forces now will be to neutralise these leaders and the outfit’s 150-200 armed cadres.
A senior police official in the district said the security forces were, in fact, apprehending terror reruns in the district in the next few days by desperate cadres of the headless outfit. The district has been put on maximum alert to thwart any attempt by the outfit to avenge the arrest of its chief last night and the killing of its “foreign secretary” Frankie Dimasa today.
The official said the security forces could not lower their guard till hardcore DHD (J) leaders like Niranjan Hojai, Arthan Hapilla, Daniel Dimasa and Maurang Dimasa were at large. “True, it is a big blow for the outfit, but we cannot afford to rest until we have neutralised the remaining leadership,” he said.
“The most important part now will be to trace the allegedly large sums of money that Gorlosa is believed to be holding...we have to make sure it doesn’t fall in the hands of those still at large,” he added.
Niranjan Hojai, in his late thirties, has been a cause of headache for the security apparatus in the district ever since he took over as the commander-in-chief of the DHD (J), replacing Syamal Langthasa who was allegedly given “capital punishment” by the outfit in 2007.
Before joining the outfit in 2005 and taking up arms, Niranjan used to serve as a watchman in the NC Hills public health engineering department. The police said he was very close to Gorlosa even then. His closeness to Gorlosa and his guerrilla skills helped him to grab the top job in the outfit’s military wing.
Arthan Hapilla alias Daku, another close associate of Gorlosa, is a marked man for the “nuisance” he creates for the authorities and for his capability to run the organisation in the absence of Gorlosa.
At present, he is the Umrangsu area commander of the outfit. He was arrested in October 2007 along with 11 AK-47 rifles, a lethod gun and Rs 19 lakh. But he escaped from jail in Haflong by enacting a jailbreak on December 11, 2008.
Daniel Dimasa, the outfit’s Langting area commander, is on the most wanted list of the NC Hills police. He is suspected to be the mastermind in the Langting railway station attack in February 2007. He was arrested from a passenger train at Guwahati railway station along with a close aide, Nalo, on the way to North Bengal in March 2008. He, too, managed to escape during the 2008 Haflong jailbreak.
Maurang Dimasa, known as the outfit’s money bag, is one of the seniormost cadres of the outfit and also needs to be neutralised before the obituary of the DHD (J) could be written, police officials in the district said.
