NIA arrests a suspected Maoist couple from a tea garden in Karimganj

April 3: CPI (Maoist) leader and a member of its central committee, Arun Kumar Bhattacharjee, popularly known as ‘Kanchan Da’, was arrested in Cachar district of Assam in the first week of March. Within a month, on 3 April, 2022, another suspected Maoist couple was arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) from Sonakhira Tea Estate in Karimganj district of Assam. The CPI (Maoist) is an organization proscribed as per first schedule of UA (P) Act, 1967.

As per initial reports, after the arrest of the Maoist top leader Kanchanda from Cachar, NIA has been keeping a close eye on the activities of several suspected people in Barak Valley. A team of NIA was keenly following Maoist activities in certain tea garden areas of Barak Valley, following which a couple alleged to be involved with the Maoists was arrested on Sunday from Sonakhira Tea Estate.

The couple arrested by NIA on alleged charges of being involved with the Maoists was identified as Raju Orang and Pinky Orang. A laptop and some sensitive documents were recovered from their possession by the investigating agency. As per sources, the father of Raju Orang who died two years ago had links with the Maoists. The couple arrested on Sunday were now kept at Patharkandi Police Station. They were being interrogated to unearth further details of their link with Maoists.

The National Investigation Agency is the primary counter-terrorist task force of India. The agency is empowered to deal with the investigation of terror related crimes across states without special permission from the states under written proclamation from the Ministry of Home Affairs. At a time when senior Maoists are being arrested from Cachar district in Barak Valley, the National Investigating Agency (NIA) is exploring options to look for possible clues of Maoist base in South Assam.