Haflong, June 22: Two persons who were trying to "revive" the militant Dima Halam Daogah (Action) in Dima Hasao district of Assam were arrested yesterday by the Assam Rifles and police.
Indrajit Mazumdar alias Bapun alias Tarzan Dimasa, who hails from lower Haflong, and Joy Mohan Phonglo of Umrangso, both in Dima Hasao district, were arrested from Lumding station, 120km from Haflong town, the district headquarters.
"The duo were set to revive the DHD (A), a militant outfit of Dima Hasao district, and disrupt peace by engaging in extortions and abductions before the election to the North Cachar Hills Autonomous Council, scheduled for mid-2018,"an Assam Rifles officer said.
Security forces said the two had confessed during interrogation that they were trying to revive the outfit with the "help" of the NSCN (I-M), NDFB (S) and the United People's Liberation Force (UPLF).
The UPLF is active in Karbi Anglong and the NDFB (S) in the Bodoland Territorial Areas District (BTAD). The NSCN (I-M) is active in Nagaland, Manipur and some parts of Assam.
The two were travelling from Lumding in Hojai district of Assam to Nagaland to help six armed cadres of the outfit to sneak into Dima Hasao from Nagaland when they were arrested. Security forces recovered a 9mm pistol and three bullets from them.
The DHD (A)'s self-styled commander-in-chief, David Kemprai alias Action Dimasa, is currently lodged in Guwahati Central Jail.
Kemprai had joined the DHD (J) in 2006. In 2007, when he was the outfit's Haflong "area commander", he was arrested in Shillong. In 2010, he joined the Dimasa National Liberation Front. He was rearrested in 2011 and sent to Haflong jail where he floated DHD (A). On June 12, 2013 he escaped from jail, but was apprehended by a joint team of the army and police on December 11, 2013. He is likely to be released in a few months.
The DHD (A) was involved in the killing of an executive engineer of the Assam irrigation department, Rajib Kumar Pathak, on November 22, 2013. Rajib was shot dead in his office in Haflong.
The police said the group had recently served extortion notes to many business establishments in Dima Hasao. Sources said the group had also collected money from some traders.
Sources said the outfit might also have the blessings of Mihir Gorlosa alias Joel Gorlosa, the founder of DHD (J) who is also lodged in Guwahati Central Jail.
Security was tightened and forces were put on high alert in Dima Hasao after Joel had declared "withdrawal of ceasefire" and the peace process failed after a National Investigation Agency special court handed life sentences to Joel and Niranjan Hojai, both rebel leaders-turned-politicians, and former chief executive member of the North Cachar Hills Autonomous Council, Mohit Hojai, on May 23 for diverting the council's development funds to the now disbanded DHD (J).
