GUWAHATI, June 4: The Dima Halam Daogah (Jewel), one of Assam’s most active insurgent groups, suffered a triple blow last night with its chairman and deputy commander-in-chief arrested in Bangalore and “foreign secretary” killed in an encounter in Guwahati.Jewel Gorlosa, chief of the Dimasa tribal outfit that has carried out serial tracks blasts in south-central Assam, was held with two others in a joint raid by Assam and Karnataka police. With him was deputy commander-in-chief Partha Warisa, Assam police chief G.M. Srivastava said.
Hours later, around 3am, police cordoned off the thinly populated Bishnu Nagar Hill area of Guwahati after being tipped off about movement by an armed group. “The police spotted some youths moving about and asked them to stop. But they fired, forcing the police to retaliate,” an officer said.
One of the rebels, who wore a red T-shirt and denim trousers, lay dead holding a .32-bore pistol of Italian make. He was identified as Daogah(J) “foreign secretary” Frankie Dimasa. The rest escaped.
Srivastava said the police had received information that Gorlosa had travelled from Kathmandu to Bangalore and was trying to get a passport. “The three were arrested from different places they had rented,” he said.
The trio are expected to be brought to Guwahati tomorrow.
The Daogah(J) is fighting for a Dimasa state carved out of Assam’s North Cachar Hills district and neighbouring areas. Dimasas are the majority tribe in N.C. Hills, which is located at the trijunction of Assam, Nagaland and Manipur and is under an autonomous district council. The other communities include Zeme Nagas, Kukis, Hmars and Karbis apart from a large number of Bengali- and Hindi-speaking settlers.
The group has been holding the 214km metre-gauge project between Lumding and Silchar and the 184km East-West Corridor project to ransom through intimidation, abductions, bombings and murders.
Gorlosa, 46, was born Mihir Barman to a Dimasa family in Haflong, the N.C. Hills’ headquarters. He helped form the Dimasa National Security Force in 1991, broke away to form the Daogah in 2004, and later headed its Jewel faction after another split.
His abandoned his first wife, allegedly murdered his second and is believed to have taken a third wife in Kathmandu. Said to be a fine guitarist, he used to strum his instrument before his men.
Story&Pic courtesy: The Telegraph( For more news you may visit their website)
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