Patients from Manipur under police scanner

PLA rebel A. Senehal Singh in police custody in Guwahati on Sunday. Picture by UB Photos
Guwahati, Oct. 3 : Police are keeping a close watch
on people from Manipur who come to avail better
healthcare facilities, following an intelligence input suggesting that the city had become a favourite
destination for ailing rebels from that state.
Patients from Manipur who come to the city for better medical treatment have come under police scanner following an intelligence input suggesting that the city has become a sort of medical hub for militants of the neighbouring state.
According to a source in the state police intelligence branch, the inputs suggest that since Manipur police monitor all hospitals of their state, ailing rebels prefer to travel to Guwahati for treat ment.
According to a source in the state intelligence branch, they have inputs that suggest that since hospitals in Manipur are under police radar, insurgents from the state are coming to the city for medical treatment.
He said they usually got admitted to city hospitals using fake names and posing as students, working professionals or businessmen.
The source added that city police, in coordination with army intelligence and CRPF, among others, had stepped up efforts to arrest such insurgents.
The effort, he said, yielded positive results when the “director of medical affairs” of
the banned People’s Liberation Army (PLA) was arrested from his rented premises at
Birubari here last night.
The arrested rebel was identified as A. Senehal Singh alias Babu Singh alias Sunil
and was a self-styled captain in the proscribed outfit, the source said and added that Singh’s job was to make arrangements here for the stay and treatment of ailing PLA cadres.
“Following the intelligence input, the city police have launched a concentrated effort along with army intelligence and CRPF, among others, to apprehend those insurgents,” the source said.
He said the efforts of the police were yielding positive results with the arrest of “director of medical affairs” of banned militant outfit, Manipur People’s Liberation Army (PLA), from a rented house at Birubari here last night.
“The accused was identified as A. Senehal Singh alias Babu Singh alias Sunil and his rank in the outfit is of a self-styled captain,” he said.
The source said his job was to arrange for stay and medical treatment of PLA cadres coming to the city for treatment.
According to him, Singh had been staying here for the past four years. One laptop and a mobile phone were recovered from him.
The police said the accused hailed from Lakhipur in
Cachar district of Assam. A case (number 751/2011) has been registered against
him at Paltan Bazar police station under Sections 121, 121 (A), 120 (B) and 122 IPC.
“Another member of PLA’s medical wing, N. Noren Singh, was arrested from Six Mile here on September 28 evening. He was entrusted with the job of facilitating medical treatment of the outfit’s cadres in city hospitals,” the source said.
He said they had names of at least three reputed private hospitals of the city where
militants from Manipur had undergone treatment under fictitious names since they are finding it difficult to get medical aid in their home state.
He said the city police were keeping a close watch on patients from Manipur who come to the city for medical treatment in order to apprehend the militants.
During the past three years, more than 50 militants from Manipur were arrested here, of whom several had come for treatment.“It is also a kind of sabbati cal for some of them. They slip to Guwahati for treatment and return home refreshed to mount new operations,” the source added.
Asked where these insurgents stay when they reach the city, the source said, “They follow a long-term plan. Members of these outfits’ medical wing come here first
and take fairly large houses on rent by paying high rents. They usually pose as students
or working professionals, among others.”
“They either take admission into colleges, do odd jobs in the private sector or start
small businesses for cover. The process may take three to four years. It is slow, but
works. The insurgents stay in these rented houses when they come here for treatment,” he said, adding that Singh was running a grocery shop in Birubari as cover.
“Take, for instance, the case of Singh, who was running a grocery shop in Birubari,” he said. He said interrogation of arrested Manipur rebels revealed that most of them came
here for treatment of health problems like diabetes, infections, injuries sustained while
fleeing from security forces and backache, among others.