Rocket lady collapses

Series of mortar attacks in Assam is no longer a mystery now. The 22-year-old has broken down and told everything to the police.

Her name is destined to go down in Assamese folklore. Such is the aura she has created in a short span. Her goal was unclear. But motivation was still hazy. Frustration led her astray. Yes, absolutely right, says Dwipamani Kalita, who has earned the dubious distinction of being the first Ahom Rocket Lady.

How did she go about the task? This is no longer a mystery now that the 22-year old has broken down and told everything to the police. She told DGP Hare Krishna Deka and IGP (SB) Khagen Sharma that the series of mortar attacks that rocked Assam since October 2002 were meticulously planned in Bangladesh, with foreign weapons’ experts imparting training to a select team of ULFA rebels at an official security range during the end of 2001.

The plan of action for the mortar attacks was formulated in Bangladesh by c-in-c Paresh Barua, deputy c-in-c Raju Barua, Drishti Rajkhowa and Ramu Gogoi, close confidantes of the outfit’s military chief. They selected the trio of Dwipamani, Dilip Roy and Pranoy Roy for the execution.

Dwipamani carried out two attacks in Guwahati — Ambari and Dispur — on her own. The other two, at Borjhar and Palashbari, were carried out by Pranoy Roy. Dilip Roy was killed in an encounter in the Garo Hills while returning from Bangladesh, the police officials said.

In one of the daring acts, Dwipamani fired a mortar which landed and exploded in the Dispur Capital residential complex on October 27, 2002, damaging two government and a private vehicle. There was however no injury to any person. The mortar was fired from behind the Dispur Law College, it has now been revealed.

Again on December 25, 2002, Dwipamani fired five mortars in quick succession near Ambari. As a result, 21 persons sustained splinter injuries, of which three later succumbed to their wounds. There was an unsuccessful attempt by Dwipamani to blow up the CRPF transit camp in the city three days prior to the Ambari blast. The other two incidents were conducted by Pranoy Roy at Misnupur on February 23, 2003 and at Palasbari on April 3, 2003.

The DGP said that Dwipamani was exclusively trained in Misnupur in Bangladesh in the Enigma ‘B’ camp for four months. She met Paresh Barua for the first time in Misnupur. She was taken to Bangladesh by Dilip Roy. After the completion of her training, she was taken to an official firing range, blindfolded by the ULFA’s foreign associates. In this regard, the DGP said a report will be sent to the Centre on Bangladesh’s involvement in imparting training to the ULFA cadres.

Dwipamani, daughter of Karuna Kalita of Jabjabkuchi village under Ghagrapar PS in Nalbari did not join the ULFA out of any compulsion to fight for the outfit’s cause. She was unable to bear the atrocities of her step mother and joined the outfit in 1998 through one Minati Kalita, and ULFA activist Manoj Goswami of Nalbari.

A brilliant student, she excelled in her HSLC and HS examinations securing letter marks. She said that she was living at a rented house near Bashistha temple in the city but did not use private cars or cellular phones during her operations. She said that though she was an expert in mortar shelling, she was used to RPGs. The ULFA’s RPG experts are Drishthi Rajkhowa, Bidyut Kachari, Bijay Chinese, Rubul Ali and Subhas Sharma, it was revealed. She surrendered an AK-56 rifle and three RPG shells.

IGP Sharma said that since the last three months or so, Dwipamani was in touch with him over telephone. The girl is on ‘specialised rehabilitation’, and the police top brass have taken special care so that she could return to a completely normal life.

Paresh Baruah asked me to hit in city

Sima Biswas alias Dwipamani Kalita, told her police interrogators that ‘commander-in-chief’ Paresh Baruah had personally met her at their safe house in Bangladesh’s Narayanganj town and directed her to position herself in Guwahati and launch rocket attacks in the city.

She drove from Puthimari to Baghmara in Garo Hills on September 21, 2001 and then trekked for about 45 minutes before being met with by a Bangladeshi couple who took her to Halowaghat, in Bangladesh, and then to a shelter in Narayanganj.

ULFA leader Paresh Barua, met her two days later along with the rebel group’s Lt. Ram Gogoi. The ULFA ‘c-in-c’ visited her at her Narayanganj shelter five days later, accompanied by his driver Khagen Choudhury, and told her that she and her companion from Assam, Dilip Roy, would be imparted arms training by instructors arranged by the ULFA.

On September 30, 2001, she was driven by five people to Misnupur, crossing Kusthia and Faridpur. From then on they were blind-folded.

Dwipamani claimed before the police that her training ended on November 1, 2001. "On the last day of the training, we had range practice and I fired 12 shells from 60mm mortars.

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