ITANAGAR, 3 Apr: Security forces on Monday recaptured one militant of the NSCN (K) Niki-Sumi group, who, along with another prisoner, had escaped from the Khonsa jail in Tirap district on 26 March after killing a security guard on duty.
Self-styled private Rocksen Homcha was nabbed from Bogapani area at around 6:30 am by a joint team of the Arunachal Pradesh Police (APP), a special task force, the 6 Assam Rifles, and the 36 Bn CRPF, APP spokesperson Rohit Rajbir Singh said.
Based on intelligence inputs, an operation, led by the APP, was
launched on Sunday to apprehend the two escaped militants. Four teams of the state police were engaged to cordon off the escape routes. The teams were placed at Paniduria, Naitong and Pansumtong villages, and in the general area of Bogapani.
The entire area was cordoned off by 8 pm on Sunday and, after an extensive search conducted at all suspected hideouts, the militant was nabbed from an abandoned building, Singh said.
The AK-47 rifle which had been snatched by Homcha from IRBn constable Wangniam Bosai before killing him was recovered from the arrested militant, along with 17 rounds of ammunition.
Homcha and Titpu Kitnya @ Kitnal, who were lodged at the Khonsa jail, snatched the service rifle from Bosai and fired upon him on 26 March.
Bosai, who was shot in the stomach, died on the way to a hospital in Assam’s Dibrugarh district.
A manhunt for Kitnya is on.
Kitnya, who hails from Kharsang in Changlang district, was serving his sentence for murder, while Homcha, a native of Borduria village, was an undertrial prisoner. He had been arrested in connection with BDR PS C/No 04/2022 u/s 384 IPC r/w Section 10/13 UA (P).
Tirap DC Hento Karga commended the joint team for apprehending Homcha, who had killed the IRBn constable.
The DC exhorted the security forces to “remain alert while discharging duties at jail, so that such incidents don’t recur.”
He also appealed to the public to extend their full cooperation to the security forces in fighting insurgency. (With DIPRO input)
