Siliguri: Police have arrested an active member of the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN), a banned militant outfit operating in northeast India. The special team of Arunachal Pradesh Police and Pradhan Nagar Police Station of Siliguri Police Commissionerate conducted a joint operation and arrested a youth on Wednesday on suspicion of being a militant from an area near Siliguri.
The accused has been identified as Karim Khan, a resident of Assam. According to the police, Karim has been staying in a rented house posing as a day labourer in the Shalbari area near Siliguri for the past six months. The preliminary investigation has revealed that Karim can speak six important languages of Northeast India at ease.
The accused was produced in the Siliguri Sub-Divisional court on Thursday and taken to Arunachal Pradesh on a three-day transit remand by the Arunachal Police. A mobile phone, identity card with three SIM cards and several documents were recovered from the accused.
Siliguri Police Commissioner Akhilesh Chaturvedi said, "The Arunachal Pradesh police asked for our help. After that, a joint operation was conducted and the youth was arrested and taken to transit remand. We are also investigating the matter."
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On Tuesday, a businessman lodged a complaint with the Khonsa police station in Arunachal Pradesh's Tirap district against Karim Khan. The man alleged that Khan called him by pretending to be Rocky Thapa and demanded a huge money by threatening him. NSCN also wanted rice for its members.
After receiving the call, the businessman filed a complaint. Based on the FIR, the police started tracing the number and pinpointed Karim Khan in Siliguri. The police recovered that the call was to Arunachal from Siliguri. Then the Arunachal Police contacted the Siliguri Police Commissionerate. On Wednesday, a special police team from Arunachal Pradesh reached Siliguri and a special operation was carried out in Shalbari at night and Karim was arrested.
According to police sources, NSCN was banned by the Centre after it attacked jawans of Assam Rifles in 2015. Since then, the members of that organisation have allegedly continued their activities in privacy. Karim Khan is an active member of the NSCN, police sources said.
