Deka has pact with RAW: ULFA
Chairman of the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) Arabinda Rajkhowa described the stand of the Asam Sahitya Sabha on the demand of the militant outfit for sovereignty for Asom as the product of a secret understanding between Sabha president Kanak Sen Deka and the Indian counter intelligence agency Research and Analysis Wing (RAW). He has also made an appeal to the State’s people not to allow the Sahitya Sabha to be the weapon of the ‘colonial rule and exploitation’. Sabha president Kanaksen Deka said yesterday that the Sabha was opposed to the ULFA demand for sovereignty. Rajkhowa claimed that Deka could get himself elected for the second term as the Sabha president with a secret understanding with the RAW to use the Sabha platform to oppose the ULFA demand for sovereignty

NEMSICS activities raising doubts in Sikkim
The North Eastern Multi-State Insurance Cooperative Society Limited, having its registered head office in Guwahati, has landed in quite a few controversies due to its activities during its three years of operation in the State.
The Society is authorised by the Government of India to operate in all the Northeastern States to collect share capital. In Sikkim alone, the Society has so far collected about about Rs. 1.5 crore as share capital.
However, according to the chairman of the society, they needed to deposit Rs. 100 crores with the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) in order to procure the licence for operating life and non-life insurance.
Even after more than three years of operation, NEMSICS has not been able to garner the said amount and none of the Northeastern governments have either invested in share capital in the society.

ISKCON blast culprits identified
Manipur Police has identified the culprits involved in the ISKCON blast, AK Parashar, State Director General of Police, disclosed this during a police-media interaction. “Culprits are culprits – we’re taking necessary steps to arrest them, it’s a matter of time”, Parashar said. The ISKCON blast that took place on the Janmasthami day last year claimed the lives of six individuals including a six year-old kid. “As of now things are not satisfactory due to serious shortage of manpower”, Parashar said claiming that in the last few months around 33 policemen including 14 commandos were booked under criminal acts to rebuild a ‘disciplined force’ in the State.
To improve manpower, 522 policemen including 54 sub-inspectors were recruited last year with a sum of Rs. 34.92 crores and Rs. 20.21 crores received in the financial years 2005-06 and 2006-07 from the Ministry of Home Affairs under police modernization schemes.

25 erring cops dismissed from service
Twenty-five police recruit constables undergoing training at the 2nd MLP Battalion Headquarters at Goeragre, near Tura, have been dismissed from service for deserting their posts and being allegedly involved in indecent behaviour in a night bus where some of them had viewed a porn film.The first batch of 12 recruits belonging to West Garo Hills District Executive Force (DEF) were dismissed on Tuesday, while another 13, belonging to 2nd MLP Battalion, had their services terminated on Wednesday. In view of a case registered against them by the Tura Police over their indecent behaviour, all 25 were forwarded to court. Police sources informed that the axe fell on the recruits over a serious incident of ‘desertion’. All twenty-five had left their camp for a trip to Shillong without the permission of the authorities.“Deserting one’s post is a serious offence in the armed forces and there is a Supreme Court ruling which endorses such dismissals,” said a senior police officer while adding that the complaint from civilian passengers about the bus incident also added to the case against them.
Commandant of 2nd MLP Bn, D Sangma, informed that offences of such a serious nature will not be tolerated in a disciplined police force. “Meghalaya Police is committed to bring out a disciplined, dedicated and people- friendly force and such misconduct cannot and will never be tolerated,” said the Commandant

Apang announces ex gratia for dead scribes’ kin
Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Gegong Apang announced ex gratia of Rs 1 lakh each to relatives of three journalists and their driver killed in a road accident near Jengging in Upper Siang district on January 13. Apang also announced that Rs. 50,000 each would be paid to two scribes injured in the accident and assured they would be taken to a hospital in Asom for specialised treatment. The accident took place when the vehicle carrying the journalists, returning from Tuting after covering the Siang River Festival, skidded off the mountainous road while negotiating a sharp bend and hurtled down a steep hill.

Woman injured in shootout between NSCN factions
A woman was injured when cadres of rival factions of the NSCN engaged in a gun-battle in Nagaland’s capital and six suspected NSCN-K cadres have been arrested in connection with the incident.The factional clash occurred in and around the same locality where two youths of the Konyak tribe were killed recently by the NSCN-IM.The 21-year old woman was seriously injured when she was caught in the crossfire and was admitted to a private nursing home.Police said armed NSCN-IM cadres arrived at a residential neighbourhood near Para Medical Colony in a car and stopped outside a house where NSCN-K members were staying. A shootout erupted soon after though no members of the two militant groups was injured.
Following the incident, police conducted a search operation in and around the area and apprehanded six suspected NSCN-K activists and seized three weapons from them.

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