Staff Reporter
DIMAPUR, JULY 2
THE Special Operations Team (SOT) of Dimapur police on Wednesday morning arrested an NSCN- IM cadre, suspected to be involved in the December 28, 2013 massacre of 9 Karbi people at Pachaspurra in the outskirts of Dimapur.
The accused, reportedly a captain in the NSCN-IM chain of command, was arrested outside the DC Office Complex at around 11 am Wednesday. Dimapur police sources confirmed the arrest, even as further details were not forthcoming.
However, highly reliable sources told Eastern Mirror that Dimapur police has been tracking the accused for the past few days, especially after receiving a piece of information that the former was to arrive at DC Court on Wednesday morning.
The source also informed that the accused was in possession of cash amounting to Rs 20,000 at the time of his arrest. He is suspected to be the “kingpin” of the gang that gunned down the 9 Karbis.
Three NSCN-IM cadres have already been arrested for their involvement in the massacre, which at that point of time, had threatened to hijack the increasingly fragile inter-state relationship between Nagaland and Assam.
On February 13 last, the Cease Fire Monitoring Group – at the request of the Special Investigation Team formed to probe the particular incident – had placed before the NSCN-IM the names of seven suspected persons identified by the SIT for their involvement in the massacre.
While saying that the NSCN-IM was “hiding” those accused persons inside Hebron, the CFMG had asked the latter to hand them over to the police.
However, citing its ongoing political dialogue and the ceasefire agreement with the Government of India, the NSCN-IM had refused to comply with the CFMG demand arguing that it was not “bound to hand over the accused to the police.”
