Manipur attack: NIA registers wrong FIR against National Socialist Council of Nagaland

NEW DELHI: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has wrongly named Kughalu Molatonu and Alezo Chakesang in the first information report against the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (Khaplang) regarding the attack on the Army on June 4 in Manipur in which 18 Army men died.

A home ministry official conceded to ET that Molatonu and Chakesang, described as general secretary and information secretary of NSCN (K), respectively in the FIR, have not been associated with the insurgent outfit for the past three-four years.

“The NIA simply re-registered the FIR lodged by Manipur Police at the Tengnoupal police station of Chandel. The mistake is on the part of the Manipur Police. The NIA has been told to make corrections in course of the probe,” the official said. The FIR blames the attack on NSCN (K) and its affiliates, headed by NSCN (K) chairman Khaplang Pangmi of Myanmar. “We believe the attack is a joint effort of NSCN (K), KCK and KYKL, with the latter two outfits giving crucial support. As per the latest inputs, the attackers have still not escaped back to Myanmar and are still in Manipur – contrary to the initial inputs,” the official said.

Home Secretary LC Goyal will hold a high-level meeting with the DGPs and chief secretaries of Manipur, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh as well as senior Army officials later this week to discuss the security situation and also plan a future strategy.

“We need to smash the insurgent camps located two-three km inside Myanmar territory. The Army needs to do it by way of a covert operation or with diplomatic support from Myanmar. There was specific intelligence of an impending attack by NSCN (K) since they abrogated the ceasefire on March 27 and it was passed on to the Army. This attack is not a case of an intelligence failure,” the official said.