Six militants of Bodo group arrested

GUWAHATI - Six militants of the outlawed National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB), including the outfit’s publicity chief, were arrested Friday in separate raids from Assam’s main city of Guwahati, officials said.

A police spokesperson said the six arrests were made during an operation by security forces on different rented accommodations in Guwahati.

“NDFB’s publicity chief B. Barbhai and the outfit’s women’s wing leader Sharmistha Brahma were among the six arrested during separate raids,” Longri Terong, additional police superintendent of Guwahati city, said.

“All of them were staying in different rented accommodations masquerading as students.”

Barbhai was mainly responsible for sending e-mail statements to media houses in Assam, besides acting as NDFB’s main liaison person in Guwahati.

“I was staying in a rented house and used some email IDs to send press statements to newspapers and TV channels under instructions from our leadership,” Barbhai told journalists while in police custody.

Sharmistha, on the other hand, is a Bangladesh-trained rebel and was instrumental in ferrying explosives to the city for terror attacks.

Police claim the arrests are a major setback for the NDFB.

“The other four arrested rebels are trained cadre,” another police official said.

The NDFB is a rebel group fighting for an independent homeland for the Bodo tribe. The outfit is blamed for the Oct 30, 2008, serial explosions in Assam that killed around 100 people and wounded 500 more.

NDFB chairman Ranjan Daimary is in jail after he was captured by Bangladesh and then handed over to India in May.