NIA arrests People's Liberation Army member from Odisha

An alleged member of the banned People's Liberation Army of Manipur was arrested from Odisha by the National Investigation Agency, which is probing the nexus between Maoists and terror groups of the northeast.

According to official spokesperson of the NIA, Asem Ibotombi Singh alias Angou was arrested on Monday with the assistance of the Odisha police in Gopalpur area of Ganjam district, where he was settled and worked as an overground agent for PLA.

Singh is alleged to have been functioning as 'secretary' of the 'external affairs wing' of the banned terror outfit. It was also alleged that PLA had imparted training in handling of fire arms and communication devices to Maoist cadres in Saranda forest on Jharkhand-Odisha border in 2010, the spokesperson said.

On May 23, the NIA had taken custody of Indranil Chanda, an alleged Naxal leader arrested by the West Bengal police.

According to NIA sources, Indranil was in-charge of Maoist activities in Assam and also a key liaison between the Maoist and PLA in Manipur.

The NIA had filed its chargesheet earlier on May 21, which is the first documentary evidence submitted before a court about nexus between northeast insurgents and Maoists.  The chargesheet was filed before the designated court of NIA in Guwahati against N Dilip Singh, Senjam Dhiren Singh alias Raghu and Arnold Singh under various sections of Unlawful (Activities) Prevention Act.

Dilip, self-styled chief of the 'external affairs wing' of the PLA, was arrested by the Delhi police, Dhiren was nabbed by the Kolkata police and Arnold was picked up by NIA last month.

The three were charged with imparting training to the cadres of banned CPI (Maoist) and supplying arms and ammunition to them.

The National Investigation Agency had on July 11, 2011 registered a case on the basis of reliable information that PLA has formed alliance with the Communist Party of India-Maoist for procuring arms, ammunition and communication devices for Maoists for carrying out terrorist activities.

The investigation indicated that in and around June 2006, the PLA leadership met the top leaders of CPI (Maoist), which followed several other meetings between the two groups in 2006-2008.

These meetings resulted in establishment of an office of PLA in Kolkata towards the end of 2006, which started coordinating activities of these outfits in procurement of arms and ammunition and communication devices.