SHILLONG: A police team from Shillong has left for Kolkata to bring back Hynniewtrep National Liberation Council (HNLC) cadre Phyranilang Swer and his companion Nand Kishore Thakur who were arrested by the special task force of Kolkata Police on Tuesday, East Khasi Hills Superintendent of Police M Kharkrang said here on Wednesday.
A statement issued by the SP’s office said the arrests took place at Chittaranjan Avenue in central Kolkata, though reports from Kolkata on Wednesday said that the arrests had taken place at Kalikapur in the outskirts of the city.
Kharkrang said that HNLC cadre Phyrnailang Swer had escaped from NEIGRIHMS in July last year and since then intelligence agencies had been following him. Swer was first arrested in 2004 along with eight other persons when they formed a group called Retrieval of Indigenous United Forum (RIUF). He was put under Meghalaya Preventive Detention Act (MPDA) and after his release from jail he started working for the banned militant outfit HNLC. He was arrested again in January 2013 for his links with HNLC, but managed to escape in July.
The police were investigating into the reason for his association with Nand Kishore Thakur. It was learnt from sources in Kolkata that the STF was also inquiring into Swer’s connections with Thakur.
Kharkrang said Thakur claimed that he was from Bihar but the police believed that he was actually from Shillong.
Swer’s arrest seems to have brought into focus once again the activities of the proscribed group. Kharkrang said the police were not taking the activities of HNLC lightly and the organization would not be allowed to reorganize again.
It may be mentioned that some youths including KSU leader Frederick Kharmawphlang and public secretary of the Jaintia Students’ Movement Sambormi Lyngdoh have reportedly joined HNLC lately.
