Team News Riveting
New Delhi, November 12
In a meticulously and patiently planned operation, the Indian Army managed to net dreaded banned ULFA(I) leader Drishti Rajkhowa, inflicting severe blow to insurgents in the North Eastern states.
The operation was executed by the Indian Army Intelligence Agencies at Meghalaya-Assam- Bangladesh Border with Rajkhowa and his four accomplices Corporal Vedanta, Yasin Asom, Ropjyoti Asom and Mithun Asom surrendering before the Assam-based Red Horns Division of Indian Army. They carried a huge cache of arms with them.
“The operation was based on confirmed inputs, which was a result of relentless pursuit over the last nine months,” a defence ministry statement said. Indian Army insiders said a senior official who was earlier posted in Military Intelligence (MI) at North East played a crucial role.
The officer first came in contact of Rajkhowa way back in 2011 and had been in communication with him despite his postings in other stations. He had been convincing the ULFA leader to lay down the arms.
The last ditch effort however started nine months ago and the officer finally succeeded in pursuing him to surrender. Soon after the surrender, Rajkhowa and his accomplices were shifted to an undisclosed location for interrogation.
Drishti Rajkhowa surrender would come as a big jolt for the insurgents planning to revive unrest in the North Eastern states. He was a close confident of ULFA leader Paresh Baruah, who had reportedly taken shelter in China.
An expert in Rocket-propelled Grenade (RPG), he was the Commander of the 109 battalion of ULFA until 2011. He is also a central committee member of the group. In November 2011, ULFA C-in-C Paresh Baruah ranked up him as the Deputy C-in-C along with Bijay Das alias Bijay Chinese, forming new central committee after Arabinda Rajkhowa and his followers involved with Lateral talk with the government.
