Dhemaji, July 2: Assam police have so far arrested nine suspected members of the Liberal Democratic Council of Misingland (LDCM), the outfit allegedly involved in the killing of local Congress leader Hiranya Doley at his residence in Dekapam (Jonai) near the Assam-Arunachal Pradesh border, on June 24.

Dhemaji superintendent of police Nilesh Sawakare said there might be 30 to 35 cadres in the Mising insurgent group under the leadership of Ruhan Patir, active in Dhemaji, Lakhimpur, Sonitpur, Majuli and Jorhat districts of Upper and central Assam.

The police arrested three LDCM linkmen, including Ranjana Pait-Doley (Jonai), Robin Kumbang and Bipul Doley of Dekapam in Dhemaji district on June 25.

The police subsequently apprehended three armed cadres of the outfit - Amitab Patir, 28, Satya Kumbang, 34, and Kangkan Morang, 30, of Dekapam under Jonai sub-division on June 30.

The suspected rebels were hiding in a buffalo shed at Moonmuni sapori, a sandbar in the Brahmaputra, from where the police caught them after a brief encounter. The police also allegedly seized a 7.65mm pistol with six rounds of live ammunition from them.

Dhemaji police had last month arrested three LDCM cadres - New Kumar Kutum, Govinda Pegu and Harish Pegu in Dhemaji who were from Simen sapori area.

They had allegedly served extortion notices to three officers, including a junior engineer serving under the Mising Autonomous Council in Gogamukh.

A case has been registered in Gogamukh police station in this regard.

Referring to the confessions of the arrested LDCM cadres, police said the outfit was formed in October 2009.

A month later, Ruhan Patir, a self-styled commander-in-chief of the outfit, sent the first batch of 12 youths from Dhemaji district, for training in an National Democratic Front of Boroland (NDFB) camp along the Assam-Arunachal Pradesh border in Assam's Sonitpur district. Assam police arrested Patir in Tezpur in 2012 allegedly with some incriminating documents.

The emergence of the Mising rebel organisation, which is demanding Misingland without community support, has evoked massive concern among people.

Reacting to the recent arrests of the LDCM members and their involvement in the killing of innocent people, Naresh Kumbang, president of the student union, Takam Mising Porin Kebang, said peace-loving Mising people would never tolerate such pro-insurgent activities.

Kumbang has alerted the community not to give shelter to the militants under any circumstances.