The National Investigation Agency has set in motion a process to attach a building in Kurseong

Darjeeling, Nov. 3: The National Investigation Agency has set in motion a process to attach a building in Kurseong, purportedly purchased with funds funnelled by the Manipur-based terror outfit Kanglei Yaol Kaba Lup (KYKL).

The move is an attempt by the NIA to cut off funds flow to the KYKL and dismantle the base allegedly set up by the banned outfit in north Bengal. In fact, the agency had already attached a plot owned by two KYKL members in Jalpaiguri.

An attachment notice signed by Lhari Dorjee Lhatoo, superintendent of police as well as the chief investigation officer of the NIA, was pasted on the wall of the three-storied building in Kurseong yesterday.

The building is owned by one Neera Tamang, currently lodged in a correctional home. Neera and Sarawati Rai, both residents of Kurseong, had been arrested along with alleged KYKL members based in the hills and in Siliguri from March 2010 onwards by the NIA and Darjeeling police.

The NIA had also discovered that the self-styled army commander-in-chief and finance-in-charge of the outfit, Ningthoujam Tomba, and Kangunjam Rabi Kumar Singh had bought 17 cottah of land at Dabgram under Bhaktinagar police station in Jalpaiguri district.

“We have attached the land and set in motion a process to confiscate an SUV that is lying with the Matigara police,” said an NIA officer.

Both Ningthoujam and Kangunjam are lodged in the Darjeeling correctional home.

Apart from the Jalpaiguri land, the agency has also attached a flat worth Rs 65 lakh at Ganeshguri in Guwahati and another one worth Rs 70 lakh near the Nehru Stadium in the Assam capital.

The NIA’s attachment of properties owned by the KLO members is the first in the history of the agency that was formed two years ago.

The NIA officer said the properties attached in Darjeeling and Jalpaiguri district were worth a few crore rupees. Unlike the police, who have to approach the court, which will then issue an attachment order, the NIA has to seek permission only from the state’s director-general of police to carry out the attachment.

“This provision is laid down under Sections 24 and 25 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention), Act, 1967. We have received the necessary permission from the Bengal DGP to carry on with the attachment,” said the NIA officer.

The owners of the properties in Kurseong and Jalpaiguri can appeal to the Union home ministry against the move after they are informed about the attachment. “After the home ministry gives its opinion, the accused can go to the court with their argument,” said the NIA officer.

Kanglei Yawol Kanna Lup, meaning “the organisation to save the revolutionary movement in Manipur”, is a Meitei terrorist group formed in January 1994.

TT