National Democratic Front of Bodoland chairman Ranjan Daimary, alias D.R. Nabla, the second most dreaded rebel in Assam after Paresh Barua of the United Liberation Front of Asom, has landed in the police net.
Daimary was arrested in Bangladesh as dramatically as his Ulfa counterpart Arabinda Rajkhowa, who was picked up last December.
Daimary is believed to have been handed over by the Bangladesh Rifles to the Border Security Force at Dawki in Meghalaya – the same spot where Rajkhowa and 11 others were handed over.
The BSF, however, said the militant leader was challenged and apprehended early on Saturday when he was found near the Indo-Bangla border.
“The militant was handed over to police,” a BSF spokesman said from Meghalaya’s capital Shillong. Assam principal secretary (home) Subhas Das later confirmed Daimary’s arrest. “Yes, he is in the custody of our police.”
Assam police chief Sankar Prasad Barua also confirmed Daimary’s arrest, but did not reveal where the police’s Special Operation Unit had kept him.
Often brutal in its operations, the NDFB – it was the Bodo Security Force since its inception in 1986 before changing name in 1994 – has primarily targeted non-Bodos and security forces in the Bodo-dominated areas of western and north-central Assam.
{{/usCountry}}Often brutal in its operations, the NDFB – it was the Bodo Security Force since its inception in 1986 before changing name in 1994 – has primarily targeted non-Bodos and security forces in the Bodo-dominated areas of western and north-central Assam.
{{/usCountry}}Daimary was wanted for the October 30, 2008, blasts that killed 92 people in the state. The blasts caught security agencies off guard, as the NDFB was on ceasefire mode since May 2005.
But the outfit had split in 2007, with Daimary leading the anti-peace talks faction and controlling operations from his Bangladesh hideout.
The change of guard in Bangladesh, however, led to the arrest of five top Ulfa leaders, including Rajkhowa, since November 2009. Daimary’s capture was, thus, inevitable.
The government sounded an alert in the Bodoland Territorial Council areas, following Daimary’s arrest.