NSCN-IM leader held on murder charge, remanded to CBI custody
Source: The Sangai Express
Imphal, January 22, 2011:
Five days after his arrest by CBI, self-styled lieutenant of NSCN-IM Kaping Luikham was being interrogated at an undisclosed location in Arunachal Pradesh in connection with the assassination of former Lok Sabha Member Wangcha Rajkumar, three years back, a top police official said.
'Capt' Luikham, who was picked up by the CBI's special crime branch (Kolkata) from Imphal on Tuesday, was on Wednesday brought to Deomali, where the murder took place, via Guwahati, a top police official said today.
Hours after arrest, the investigating agency had produced Luikham, a resident of Konghan village of Manipur's Ukhrul district, in the Court of the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Imphal West, who sent the rebel to seven days' transit remand of CBI for interrogation.
Luikham is the third cadre of the outfit to be apprhended by the CBI.
Rajkumar was shot dead by two unidentified men when he was playing badminton at Deomali community hall in Tirap district on December 23, 2007. The investigating agency earlier arrested two militants Ramchan Longlen and Toche Wangsu - on March 3 and April 7 respectively last year.
Four other rebels, named accused in the case, are absconding.
After handing over the murder case to the CBI in December 2007, the state government has been asking for expeditious outcome of the probe while various organisations, particularly the All Arunachal Pradesh Students Union (AAPSU) demanded that the outcome be made public.