On Monday, the Gauhati High Court in Assam extended the interim bail of Jewel Garlossa and Niranjan Hojai—chairperson and self-styled commander-in-chief of Dima Halam Daoga (Jewel)—one of the prominent insurgent outfits of the north-eastern India fighting for a separate Dimasaland.
The two months extension of bail was granted following expiry of their earlier bail of four months. Both Assam government and National Investigation Agency told the court they had no objection to the extension considering progress in peace talks with the outfit.
But besides taking the peace process forward, Hojai, who was arrested by Nepal Police in July last year from the Tribhuwan International Airport in Kathmandu and handed over immediately to Indian authorities, has been indulging in other activities as well.
Earlier this month following an alert by Indian intelligence agencies, Nepal Police laid hands on US $ 200,000 which Hojai is believed to have transferred from a Citibank account in Singapore to an account in the New Baneshwor branch of Everest Bank in Kathmandu.
The amount remitted to the account of Hojai’s wife Sarita Giri reveals how insurgent outfits from the north-east have been using Nepal as a safe haven to conduct their operations with relative ease due to lax security and an open border between both countries.
Investigations conducted by the police in Kathmandu and interrogation of his wife expose how Hojai, who had escaped from Assam in 2009 following his surrender, had managed to procure a Nepali identity, a Nepali wife and an alternative lifestyle.
Hojai got a Nepali passport in the name of Nirmal Rai, married Sarita allegedly posing as a businessman, fathered a child with her, bought a palatial home and several luxury cars in Kathmandu and went on family vacations to Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand.
The fresh revelations confirm what Indian authorities have been telling their Nepali counterparts for many years now—that the Himalayan nation is being used by terror elements from India as a transit point or safe shelter from where they can continue their operations unhindered.
“In bilateral security meetings every time Indian counterparts raised the issue of ultras from that country using Nepali soil we used to tell them that it’s not true. But the recent incident has proved their claims,” a senior police official was quoted by the ‘Kantipur’ daily.
Hojai is accused by NIA of diverting public funds for insurgent actitivties and waging a war against the Indian government. Now Nepal Police wants to charge him for procuring Nepali citizenship and passport using fake papers.
Significantly, Hojai is not the first ultra from north-east India with Nepal connections. His boss Jewel Garlossa who was arrested in Bengaluru in June last year has admitted to being based in Nepal before shifting base and had travelled to Bangkok in 2007 using Nepali passports.
In October last year, Anthony Shing aka Ningkhan Shimray, the foreign affairs chief of Nationalist Socialist Council of Nagaland (Issac-Muivah) was arrested at the Tribhuwan International Airport here while he was apparently on his way from Bangkok to New Delhi to take part in peace talks.
A month later, Rajkumar Meghen, chairman of the banned United National Liberation Front (UNLF) of Manipur, was arrested by a team of National Intelligence Agency (NIA) and Bihar police when he was about to board a Nepal-bound bus from Motihari in Bihar.
Meghen, one of north-east India’s most wanted militant leaders, known as Sana Yaima by his supporters, had a Nepali name as well. Police say he used to call himself Raju Shreshtha.
The recent revelations about Hojai has just given credence to what was suspected all along—that Nepal is indeed a safe haven for ultras from India and efforts need to be intensified to deny them the facilities they enjoy in this neighbouring nation.
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