Meghen May Be Shifted To Tihar Jail

Guwahati, Sep 13 : If the National Investigation Agency (NIA) has its way, United National Liberation Front (UNLF) chairman Rajkhumar Meghen may soon be shifted to Tihar Jail where high profile politicians such as Amar Singh, A Raja and Kanimozhi are lodged at present.

Stressing the need for "immediate shifting" of Meghen to the jail in New Delhi "for security reasons", NIA has told the Union home ministry that the UNLF leader's stay in Guwahati central jail might allow him to keep his contacts alive with other Manipur-based militants. The NIA, in its plea, also said Meghen's stay in Guwahati would also help his aides to influence the witnesses.

On Monday, the special NIA court took up the matter after the Guwahati central jail moved the Centre's instruction. The court will hear the plea on Tuesday after it adjourned the hearing on Monday.

"The government pressed jail authorities to uphold the NIA prayer of shifting Meghen to Tihar on security grounds. The NIA has pleaded that Meghen's presence here may influence the witnesses. The prayer also said that it's easy for him to contact Manipur-based outfits by staying in Assam," said the militant leader's counsel, Asim Talukdar.

The counsel said he would raise his arguments against the plea in court on Tuesday. "If Meghen can contact militants and influence the witnesses by staying in the city's jail, then it is a total failure of the security system. Moreover, the witnesses are said to be protected by the authorities earlier," Talukdar added.

The sixty-five-year-old militant leader was 'captured' in Dhaka on September 29 last year by Bangladesh intelligence agencies though he had claimed that "he was kidnapped". Meghen was then kept in 'secret detention' for two-months and finally shown as 'arrested' by a special team of NIA at Motihari in Bihar on November 30 .

The UNLF had earlier claimed that its chairman was arrested by a combined team of Indian intelligence agency, the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), and its Bangladeshi counterparts, from Dhaka and then handed over to India.

A member of the Manipur royal family, Meghen has been fighting for nearly 35 years since he left his home in Imphal to lead an armed fight for a sovereign Manipur.

UNLF is one of the most oldest and dreaded Meitei insurgent outfits. Formed in 1964 to fight for Manipur's liberation from India, the group is estimated to have 5,000 armed fighters. It is the only group that has managed to retain territory in some areas of Manipur's borders with Myanmar, despite repeated military offensives by the Indian army.