Three Assam natives, allegedly cadres of the banned North East-based extremist outfit National Democratic Front of Bodoland (Songbijit), were taken into custody by a police team from a plywood factory at Mannur village in Kunnathunadu, near Perumbavoor, at 9 a.m. on Thursday.
B. Mehar, aka Manu Basumataray, 25; B. Pritam Basumataray, 24; and B. Dalanj aka Dhumketu Brahma, 35; all residents of Kokrajhar district in Assam, were detained on a memo issued by the Superintendent of Police, Crime Branch, Assam, to J. Himendranath, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Kochi City), who is also holding the charge of District Police Chief (Ernakulam Rural ).
They will be handed over to a police team from Assam expected here by Friday afternoon.
The arrested were wanted in a case registered by the Gossaigaon police in Kokrajhar district invoking Indian Penal Code Sections 120B (criminal conspiracy), 121 (waging or attempting to wage war or abetting waging of war against the Government of India), 121(A) (conspiracy to commit offences punishable by Section 121), 122 (collecting arms, etc., with intention of waging war against the Government of India), 326 (voluntarily causing grievous hurt by dangerous weapons or means) and 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) and Section 27(2) of the Arms Act and Section 10/13 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
“On receiving information that they were residing in the Aluva rural region, we gathered further intelligence and traced them to the plywood industry. We convened an emergency meeting on Wednesday night itself to chalk out a detailed plan for their detention with minimum resistance. Members of both the city and rural police were roped in and a team of Quick Response Force was kept as backup to avoid any collateral damage since the accused had received combat training,” said Mr. Himendranath.
A 50-member task force led by G. Venu, Dy.SP, Perumbavoor; V.G. Raveendranath, Dy.SP, Special Branch (Rural); and J. Kuriakose, Inspector, Kunnathunadu; led the operation. Men, both in uniform and plain clothes, were deployed around the plywood factory concerned for surveillance, while another team were deployed inside the factory in an autorickshaw in the guise of collecting wood.
The police detained all three accused within the factory after summoning them in the guise of screening for malaria. “They had been at Perumbavoor for the last one month before joining the plywood company a fortnight ago. We have seized the mobile phones and documents in their possession before sealing their room,” said Mr. Himendranath.
He said the accused had joined the outfit NDFB in 2014 and underwent arms training in Myanmar. Four of them had left for Hyderabad, where one of them was arrested by the Assam police. The remaining three left for Kerala after two other members of the organisation were also picked up from Hyderabad.
“We are verifying whether they had received any help in reaching Kerala and has any local acquaintances,” said Mr. Himendranath.
