Shillong blast
NIA sleuths interrogate HNLC militants on Shillong blast
Shillong/UNI: National Investigation Agency (NIA) sleuths have joined Meghalaya police in interrogating the five arrested Hynniewtrep National Liberation Council (HNLC) militants, who are allegedly involved in the recent blast here in the state capital, an official said on Monday.
“We are interrogating the arrested HNLC to establish if they are also involved in the IED explosion in the residential quarters of Star Cement Meghalaya Ltd at Lumshnong,” an NIA official said on condition of anonymity.
The NIA is probing the IED blast that rocked the residential quarters of Star Cement Meghalaya Ltd at Lumshnong in East Jaintia Hills in December 2020.
The NIA official said that the agency has not taken over the investigation from the Meghalaya police in connection with the January 30th IED blast at Police Bazar.
The agency is empowered to deal with the investigation of terror-related crimes across states without special permission from the state government.
Meghalaya police have arrested five HNLC rebels including two minors who were involved in the Police Bazar blast.
One of the minors, a student of a premier institution, who claimed himself to be the “area commander of Shillong region”, confessed to having carried out the explosion.
The 17-year-old accused has also claimed that he had carried out the IED blast at Laitumkhrah market and for planting the IED bomb in front of the ruling National People's Party (NPP) office.
The HNLC, which runs hit-and-run operations from its hideout in Bangladesh, has been demanding a sovereign Hynniewtrep homeland in Meghalaya.
Meghalaya shares a 443 km-long border with Bangladesh, part of which is porous, hilly and unfenced and prone to frequent infiltrations.
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