NIA exposes how terrorists got sleaze cash

Guwahati: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) in its first ever case has surprised the security circle of the state as it has failed in nailing the politicians and bureaucrats who were alleged to have been
involved in siphoning off the public fund of North Cachar Hill district council in Assam.

However, the chargesheet filed by the NIA into the alleged public fund diversion to insurgent groups has revealed some startling facts including diversion of funds to the tune of Rs 20 crore in the last two years
from the Public Health Engineering and Social Welfare departments.

But it has ignored some of the major withdrawals by the principal secretary of the council in last five years.

The documents of transaction through the treasury indicate many huge withdrawals of money by the principal secretary of the North Cachar Hills district council to the tune of Rs 15 crore and more but the NIA chargesheet is completely silent on those transactions.

The NIA investigation however revealed that most of the money siphoned off from the council, which involved several crores of public money, were transferred through a hawala racket based in Kolkata.

The NIA has also failed in establishing the "direct nexus" between the district council members including its chief executive member Mohit Hojai, contractors and government officials and the Dima Halam Daogah (J) rebels.

The chargesheet stated that the NC Hills Autonomous Council election of 2007, when ASDC formed the council in alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), was backed by the militant group.

The chargesheet also revealed that the former CEM of the council, Depulal Hojai was made to resign by the DHD (J) to facilitate the way for Mohit Hojai. It was after Mohit Hojai took over charge that diversion of public money towards insurgent activities became more rampant.

The security agencies are surprised over this remark as a chief executive member of the council Purnendu Langthasa, son of a Congress MLA was shot dead by Dimasa rebels on dispute over money being siphoned off from the council in 2007.

The NIA filed the chargesheet on November 17, where as many as 14 accused are named. Of the 14 accused, the NIA has arrested 10 of them.

The chargesheet is claimed to have been prepared after taking the accounts of 317 witnesses, has named the DHD (J) commander-in-chief as the main accused. This was the first case of the NIA in which the agency has filed the chargesheet.

The NIA, in its final chargesheet submitted in the court of the Special Judge in Guwahati on November 17, said elected members of the North Cachar Hills Autonomous Council (NCHAC) helped the outlawed Jewel Garlosa faction of the Dima Halim Daogah (DHD-J) to siphon government funds.

"The main activity of the DHD-J after 2006 was to siphon off government funds through extortion with the help of elected members of the Council, contractors, and government servants, in order to finance their subversive activities," the NIA charge sheet said.

The NIA was entrusted by the central government in June 2009 to investigate a criminal case after Assam police arrested two DHD-J rebels in April with Rs 1 crore cash and weapons.

The two arrested rebels, Phojendra Hojai and Babul Kemprai, spilled the beans during initial interrogation by Assam police, saying the cash was handed over to them by the
Chief Executive Member of the NCHAC, Mohit Hojai.

The North Cachar Hills district is in southern Assam where the writ of the DHD-J reigns supreme. The DHD-J in September surrendered en masse before Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi.

"Mohit Hojai and other accused public servants, along with accused contractors, committed criminal misconduct and defalcated huge sums of money from the funds available with NCHAC, which was channelised through Hawala (illegal channels) operators in Guwahati and Kolkata to reach arms smugglers, who in turn supplied weapons to the DHD-J," the NIA chargesheet said.

The NIA accused 14 people in the charge sheet of whom 11 are in jail. The two arrested DHD-J militants are out on bail. Another DHD-J leader Niranjan Hojai, named as an accused in the charge sheet, has not yet been arrested as he led the surrender ceremony in September and is presently at a government-run designated camp.

The state Social Welfare department Deputy Director R.H. Khan, also an accused, is in jail now for conniving with the militants in swindling development funds in the same
case.

"Elections to the NCHAC were held in 2007 and the Autonomous State Demand Committee (ASDC) party was elected to power in alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party. The ASDC had the tacit support of the DHD-J," the NIA charge sheet said.

"Investigations revealed that a portion of funds allotted to two Public Health Engineering (PHE) departments and Social Welfare department were utilized by the DHD-J. Rs 13.5 crore was directly siphoned away from the Social Welfare department and about Rs 3 crore from the PHE department in 2009," the chargesheet said.

There was also largescale corruption by the NCHAC under its chief Mohit Hojai with business contracts being given to fictitious firms and payments made without the job actually completed or in some case not even started.

The NIA charge sheet also sought permission to produce DHD-J leader Niranjan Hojai in court to face trial as he was the person who received the funds from the NCHAC.

NIA is a new federal agency approved by the Indian government to combat terror and is empowered to deal with terror related crimes without special permission from the states.

The NIA has now referred the matter to the central government for a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe as there were government officials involved in criminal misconduct.