Guwahati, May 15: The banned National Democratic Front of Boroland (NDFB)’s intensified extortion drive could be a prelude to the much-awaited peace talks between the militant outfit and the government.

A police source said investigation into alleged funding of the NDFB by the tea industry had revealed that the outfit was seriously contemplating accepting Dispur’s offer of peace after feeling the heat of sustained counter-insurgency operations.

“There is a strong possibility that the NDFB has undertaken the massive extortion drive to collect enough funds to survive the period when they sit for talks. Once they come forward for talks, there will be several restrictions on such illegal and forced collection of funds,” the source added.

After the arrest of two militants in Calcutta recently, the NDFB today suffered another setback when the Red Horns division of the army and city police traced B. Olongbar alias Ajay Brahma, deputy commander-in-chief of the Bodo outfit, to the intensive care unit of a private nursing home here. He had been admitted for treatment under a false name, that of S.H. Nirmal Boro.

The raid was conducted on the basis of information gathered by the army at Tamulpur. Olongbar is in police custody at present.

The source said interrogation of Sunil Brahma and Indramohan Basumatary, the two NDFB leaders arrested in Calcutta, had thrown more light on the outfit’s source of funds. “The tea industry is not the only one paying for peace.

During the past six months, the NDFB has served extortion notices on scores of businessmen based in the Bodo-inhabited areas. Most of them have paid up and escaped detection. Even professionals are paying up.”

The outfit has gone on an abduction spree — particularly in Lakhimpur, Gogomukh, Silapathar and the Guwahati-Shillong stretch — so that its extortion notices are taken seriously. Bodo militants had abducted a relative of a sitting MLA sometime back. He remains in captivity, but no FIR has been registered with the police.

The NDFB’s willingness to sit for peace talks is believed to have stemmed from the tripartite accord signed by the rival Bodo Liberation Tigers (BLT) with the Centre and the Assam government on February 10.

The accord envisages a new administrative set-up, to be called the Bodoland Territorial Council, as a replacement for the defunct Bodoland Autonomous Council.

Brahma and Basumatary, arrested in Calcutta on April 30, were brought to Assam recently for trial.

They were found to be in possession of Rs 10 lakh, allegedly extorted from a tea company, at the time of their arrest.

The army, which leads operations under the unified command, has sought reports on the interrogation of the arrested duo from the police to supplement its independent investigation into the extortion racket. The army had told the strategy group of the unified command that one way to disable militant outfits was to “choke the flow of funds”.