Arms link to Thulung

Sanjay Thulung

Vivek Chhetri, TT, Darjeeling, Dec. 16: GTA Sabha member Sanjay Thulung had provided Rs 13.3 lakh to militants in Nagaland to provide arms training to 15 members of the Gorkhaland Personnel and some others from the Darjeeling hills, according to an FIR filed by the CID.

The FIR was filed by sub-inspector G.N. Roy of Runglee-Rungliot police station on December 6 following the seizure of a rifle, 22 rounds of live ammunition and five leaflets of the Gorkhaland Liberation Army (GLA) from an abandoned building in 27th Mile, near Darjeeling town, on the same day.

The documents written in English state that the GLA was planning “to attack police and civil administration personnel in order to kill them on duty and strike terror”.

Morcha leaders refused comment on Thulung’s alleged financial help for the arms training.

Police sources said the GTA member’s financial help to impart arms training to the GLP cadres was revealed during the interrogation of Umesh Kami and Ganesh Chhetri, who had been held with a huge cache of arms and ammunition in Assam on November 8.

“During the interrogation of the two accused by the CID, it was learnt that Sanjay Thulung had provided a sum of Rs 13. 30 lakh to NSCN (Nationalist Socialist Council of Nagalim) militants from Nagaland to provide four months’ arms training to 15 GLP members and other people from the hills from January 2013 onwards,” said a police source.

The police source could not specify to which of the three factions of the NSCN Thulung had supplied the cash. All three factions of the NSCN are outlawed.

The GLP is a voluntary force raised by the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha.

In the FIR, it has been mentioned that Umesh Kami and Ganesh Chhetri had brought the arms from Sanjay Chhetri, Rahul Chhetri, Diku Chhetri and other members of the NSCN from Dimapur.

Today, Kami and Ganesh Chhetri were remanded in six days’ police custody.