Shillong: Two top NDFB militants, arrested along with three other cadres and a sympathizer in Meghalaya, have admitted their involvement in a number of killings and blasts in Assam, besides links with smaller militant groups, police said.
Lachit Boro alias Langana confessed to have killed 26 people, including those in the serial strikes that the outfit carried out in western Assam districts, mainly in Sonitpur, killing more than 20 people in November last year, after a
cadre was gunned down by security forces, a top police official told PTI today.
Boro, the NDFB 'commander of the eastern region', his deputy 'major' Mathuram Brahma alias Mudoi, three other cadres and a local sympathizer were arrested near Byrnihat, about 90 km from here, in Ri Bhoi district bordering Assam on Thursday.
Now in police custody for five days, Mudoi also admitted his involvement in twin blasts at Assam's Barpeta Road where at least 11 people were killed in October, 2008 when the banned outfit had carried out a series of blasts
killing over 70 people in the neighbouring state.
A CBI official said Mudoi, along with 18 NDFB militants, has been charge-sheeted in the case, which is being probed into by the agency and they would seek his custody for further investigation. The arrested rebels also admitted to have maintained links with outfits like Hynniewtrep National Liberation
Council (HNLC) and the Garo National Liberation Army (GNLA).
"They have confirmed meetings with leaders of HNLC and GNLA and sharing of weapons and extorted money," the police official said.
"Boro had personally met the HNLC chief Bobby Marwein and general secretary Cherishterfield Thangkhiew in Bangladesh where it was agreed that the NDFB will provide arms and ammunition to the HNLC while in return the Khasi outfit will share half of all the money it collected through extortion and
other means," the official said.
Boro was also responsible for kidnapping Maharashtra forest department officer Vilas Bardekar in Arunachal Pradesh last year. The IFS officer was released after 78 days. The militant confessed to have taken Rs 1 crore for his release, investigating officials said.
Other arrested cadres are Nichiram Basumatary, Nakul Boro and Dharmeswar Brahma. A local tribal, believed to an accomplice in whose house these cadres were hiding, was also picked up.
The NDFB cadres had entered from Bangladesh on February 7 through West Khasi Hills border. They had stayed for a day at Byrnihat before entering Assam, officials added.
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