Skeletons tumble out of Kolkata
Source: The Sangai Express / PTI
Kolkata, April 16:
The four Prepak (Santi faction) militants, arrested from here and Imphal last week, were using the metropolis for briefings and de-briefings, besides fund-raising activities, Defence sources said today.
"LCD projectors, scanners and other electronic equipment were recovered from their hideout at Bagha Jatin.
They seem to have been using the place for briefing and debriefing activities," the sources said today.
The Bagha Jatin residence in the southern suburbs were used by the outfit's self-styled finance secretary Sanjay Singh and political secretary Leishram Ibobi Singh, who were arrested by Military Intelligence and police on April seven at Imphal airport after going there from Kolkata.
Leads given by them led to the arrest of self-styled captain Rakesh Singh alias Leishamba and "lieutenant" R K Dhaneswar alias Chinklampa from a hotel in central Kolkata on April nine.
Sources alleged three empty ammunition pouches and a huge stock of pornographic CDs and condoms were also seized from the Bagha Jatin residence.
Alleging that the CDs were apparently sold in underground markets to raise funds, they said the purpose of keeping empty ammunition pouches was yet to be ascertained.
Pointing out that both Sanjay and Ibobi were posing as Jadavpur University students, the sources said, "as far as we know, they were not planning any armed operation in Kolkata.
They were using the metropolis as a hiding place." The sources said the chairman of the faction, Santi alias Chinglemba, had visited the metropolis about 45 days ago and had stayed at a house in the Regent Park area, also in the southern suburbs, under the pseudonym T K Sharma.
They said the Prepak (Santi) faction earned nearly Rs 200 crore annually through extortion, and added that a number of extortion calls were made from Kolkata.
Material for making uniforms and tabs with the words 'Red Army' embossed on them were recovered from the Bagha Jatin residence of Sanjay Singh and Ibobi Singh, the sources said, adding that Ibobi, the outfit's political secretary, was a tailor by profession and was responsible for distribution of uniforms to the cadre.
Rakesh and Dhaneswar, arrested from a central Kolkata hotel, have confessed that the uniforms were sent by train to the outfit's stronghold in Senapati district of Manipur.
The uniforms were even sent by boat to their senior leaders in Myanmar and Bangkok, the sources said.