Alert over possible NDFB strikes

Guwahati, June 28 : 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.

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

“We have received information that certain militant outfits are planning to create sabotage in the NJP station. The GRP has been put on alert and we are in the consistent process of carrying out security checks on 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 will go on unless we assess the situation again.”

In New Jalpaiguri, 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 on the input that some NDFB cadres have sneaked into Jalpaiguri district in North Bengal, said they did not have any information so far. “In the early years of the last decade, when activities of KLO had reached the height of the movement, NDFB militants had camps in Bhutan till Operation Flushout conducted by the Royal Bhutan Army in 2003-04,” one of the officials said. “NDFB’s self-styled vice-president Dhiren Boro was nabbed from Gangtok along with his wife and two accomplices on January 2003, indicating that leaders of the outfit have used North Bengal and Sikkim as a shelter.” In June the same year, NDFB cadre Anar Singh Narjinary was arrested from Kumargram in Jalpaiguri district.

Another NDFB cadre, Bimal Mushahari, was nabbed from Jaigaon in Jalpaiguri district in July 2004.