[ Bengia Ajum ]
ITANAGAR, 27 Mar: The Arunachal Pradesh Police (APP), in coordination with the Assam Rifles, are continuing the search for the two NSCN operatives – Roksen Homcha and Titpu Kitnya – who escaped from the central jail in Tirap HQ Khonsa on Sunday.
Till the time of filing this report, the duo could not be traced by the security personnel.
“No new update. Search operation is underway,” informed APP spokesperson Rohit Rajbir Singh.
On Sunday, at around 5 pm, when IRBn constable Wangnyam Bosai was on duty, the duo in a coordinated attack snatched the AK-47 rifle from the constable and fired upon him.
Bosai, who was shot in the stomach, passed away while he was being taken to Dibrugarh in Assam.
Roksen Homcha, who is a native of Borduria village, was serving his sentence for murder. He is believed to be a close associate of one Loliam Latey Lowang of the same village, who reportedly heads the NSCN-K (Niki-Sumi) faction in Arunachal Pradesh.
Interestingly, Loliam Latey Lowang also broke out of the Khonsa jail in a daring jailbreak on 7 August, 2013. Seven undertrial prisoners (UTP) escaped on that day.
The other operative, identified as self-styled sergeant major Titpu Kitniya, from Kharsang in Changlang district, was an undertrial prisoner. He is alleged to be an operative of the NSCN (IM).
Both of the inmates had been in the jail for the last six months.
It is still not clear how the duo managed to snatch the AK-47 rifle from the constable and flee from the jail.
“The situation leading to the fleeing of the duo is not clear. The police are not sharing anything at this juncture. However, it is a known fact that most of the inmates used to be quite friendly with the guards posted there,” said an official of Tirap.
Earlier, in another major jail outbreak on 19 July, 2013, 18 undertrial prisoners managed to flee from the Chowkham police outpost lockup in the wee hours.
