Guwahati, June 27: The Ranjan Daimary faction of National Democratic Front of Boroland (NDFB) may target railway property to avenge the killing of its cadres by security personnel.

An official source said alerts have been sounded and the GRP and RPF personnel have started intensive search of trains, tracks and railway stations after intelligence inputs of possible NDFB strikes.

“There has been intelligence inputs warning of NDFB plans to carry out blasts on passenger trains or railway tracks, particularly in lower Assam or North Bengal, to avenge the death of its cadres at the hands of security forces,” the source said.

He said railway stations across the state have been put on a state of high alert and every train compart- ment was being checked thoroughly.

“To prevent any attack on railway property, additional deployment of armed forces has been made at all vulnerable places and track patrolling intensified,” the source said.

According to him, the railways have been asked to be cautious and run pilot engines ahead of trains passing through lower Assam.

“There is no need to panic as security forces are on alert. It was because of police alertness that a powerful bomb was recovered from Kanchenjunga Express at Guwahati railway station on June 17,” he said.

Security forces gunned down two NDFB militants, including self-styled general secretary N. Dinthigwra, during a fierce encounter in Meghalaya’s West Garo Hills district on June 18.

The outfit, however, claimed that the duo were not gunned down in an encounter but were killed.

The NDFB is also affronted at the killing of five of its cadres within the past five days in Surenderpur, Gossaigaon and Bedlangmari Dwimuguri in Kokrajhar district.

“Since a sizeable number of cadres of the Daimary faction of the NDFB have taken refuge in North Bengal, New Jalpaiguri railway station has also been put on high alert,” the source said.

The Telegraph had reported in its June 22 edition that Subraksha Brahma alias Sagrid, who was arrested at the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport at Shamshabad recently, has confessed that several hardcore militants of the outfit have taken shelter in North Bengal, especially in Jalpaiguri district.

Security forces today arrested two cadres of the Daimary faction of the NDFB from Sialmari area in Baksa district and recovered a large cache of arms, including five pistols, a submachine gun and a grenade besides assorted ammunition.

The cadres, Rabi Basumatary alias Rangabhija, 30, and Udhyachal Daimary, 23, are residents of Kolbari Anandabzar area of the district.

A source said the Assam-based NDFB militants might target the New Jalpaiguri station – the second most important station in northeast India after Guwahati and carry out a sabotage using explosives, has kept the security forces at tenterhooks, prompting them to intensify vigil on the tracks.

Dilip Mitra, the director-general of GRP in Bengal, had asserted on last Saturday that they have a security input, mentioning the risk of subversive activities in New Jalpaiguri station.

“We have received information that certain militant outfits are planning to create sabotage in NJP station. The GRP has been put on alert and we are in the consistent process of carrying out security checks in trains, platforms and annexe areas of the station to mitigate the risk of any such activity,” Mitra said over phone from Calcutta . “Such preventive measures would go on unless we assess the situation again.”

In NJP, joint teams of RPF and GRP are checking every train, passengers’ luggage, parcels and other items. Three trained dogs have been put on duty, with additional deployment of security personnel.

According to Northeast Frontier Railway sources, they were carrying out inspection of tracks. A standalone engine or goods trains are being passed through tracks before plying long distance express and mail trains.

Intelligence officials, on being questioned of the input that some NDFB cadres have sneaked into Jalpaiguri district in north Bengal , said they do not have any information so far. “In the early years of last decade, when activities of KLO has reached at a height, movement and activities of NDFB militants were witnessed, as they too, had camps in Bhutan till Operation Flushout conducted by the Royal Bhutan Army in 2003-04,” they said. “Also, senior NDFB leaders like the self-styled vice president Dhiren Boro, was nabbed from Gangtok along with his wife and two accomplices on January, 2003 indicating that NDFB leaders have used north Bengal and Sikkim as shelter.” On June in the same year, a NDFB cadre Anar Singh Narjinary, was arrested from Kumargram in Jalpaiguri district, which was once infamous to be a KLO hotbed.

Incidents of sabotage and explosion in railway properties have been reported at least twice in north Bengal during past 13 years. Back on June 1999, an IED, planted at NJP, went off, leading to the death of nine persons including two soldiers of the Indian Army. Another similar activity was carried out on November 2006, when another IED was planted at the Haldibari-NJP passenger train, which exploded at Belakoba station in Jalpaiguri district located around 25 km from here, killing seven people. In the later case, an involvement of NDFB was established with the arrest of a cadre known as Gopal Rabha, who was also involve in the bomb blast at Barovisa on Bengal-Assam border.

Another NDFB cadre, identified as Bimal Mushahari, was nabbed from Jaigaon, located in Jalpaiguri district on the borders of Bhutan , on July 2004. He had confessed living in the locality for three years.