IMPHAL, Dec 2: The chairman of the United National Liberation Front, UNLF, RK Meghen alias Sanayaima who is now officially in the custody of the National Intelligence Agency, NIA, will be produced before the Gauhati High Court in Guwahati tomorrow, according to a very reliable source in New Delhi contacted by IFP on the phone this evening.
Meghen, he said has already been brought to Guwahati and is being kept there for tomorrow’s court appearance.
He said the NIA will file for further police remand of the UNLF chief and in most likelihood, the request would be granted.
Meghen will then probably be interned in Guwahati or New Delhi to allow the law to take its own course, he said, adding it is unlikely the rebel leader would be allowed to be transferred to Manipur just as yet, as things are still too volatile in the state.
It may be recalled, Meghen according to a report in the BBC and some section of the media, was arrested from Lalmatia in Dhaka, Bangladesh on September 29 by a combined team of Bangladesh police and Indian intelligence personnel in civvies and uniform, and then transferred to India in a special Indian plane.
The news was denied by the Indian authorities, although they admitted having heard of the arrest from unofficial sources.
Since then, both the Bangladesh and Indian government authorities have been tight lipped on the matter.
However, further press reports in various sections of media quoting reliable sources had claimed that the arrested rebel leader was kept in a safe house in New Delhi.
On November 30 however, amidst mounting pressures for the revelation of the whereabouts of the arrested armed opposition leader, the Government of India admitted having arrested Meghen, however it had a new version of the arrest, saying Meghen was arrested at Motihari in the East Champaran District of Bihar by the Indian police, while the latter was trying to cross border.
Speculations that Meghen would be brought to Imphal yesterday, proved to be false, disappointing many, including members of the press, who waited for him at the Imphal Airport.
NNN adds from Guwahati:
Arrested United National Liberation Front (UNLF) chief RK Meghen, alias RK Sanayaima who was believed to be brought to Assam after his purported ‘arrest’ in Bihar, is likely to be produced in the court in Guwahati tomorrow (Friday).
There is no official word as yet confirming the whereabouts of the UNLF chief but unconfirmed sources indicated that he was possibly kept at the guest house of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in Guwahati.
When asked if RK Meghen has been brought to the Assam capital, the police neither admitted nor denied it. This is a matter between the NIA and the Manipur Government. So, we are not keeping track of it, a senior police official told Newmai News Network in Guwahati this evening without elaborating further. Others in the police department also kept mum on the matter.
However, Meghen’s counsel Advocate Gunadipdhar Singh said, He (Meghen) is very much in Guwahati and in the custody of the NIA.
We got information that he will be produced in the special court on Friday. Anyway, he has to be produced by Friday as his remand ends by the day, the advocate said.
He added, We went to the court today (Thursday) expecting that he will be produced. We learnt later that it was not done so as it was a holiday.
RK Meghen’s son RK Chinglen spent some time along with the advocate in front of the court in Guwahati today hoping to see his father.
I have never seen him. It’s been 25 years that he has been away from me. We were separated from each other when I was barely two years old, RK Chinglen told reporters.
About two months back, when we came to know from various sources, especially electronic media, about his arrest, we contacted both the Manipur and Central governments seeking information about my father. Later on October 26, we approached a UN body WGEID. Last month (November), the Amnesty International responded, informing us that it had written a wrongly-worded letter to the Government of India asking it to disclose the whereabouts of our father, Chinglen said.
This has possibly made the MHA to make a dramatic disclosure about his arrest in Bihar, RK Chinglen said.
NIA said our father had been arrested in Motihari, Bihar. But everyone in Manipur knows that he was arrested in Dhaka as per a news by the BBC…There should have been some transparency in dealing with the case. Everything has been kept under wraps, he lamented.
