Additional chargesheet filed in MLA murder case

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, March 31

The anti-terror probe agency NIA today filed a supplementary charge sheet against the NSCN (IM) cadre for the killing of Arunachal Pradesh MLA and 10 others allegedly in an ambush by the Naga militant group in May last year.

Officials said the agency filed its supplementary charge sheet against accused Ellie Ketok before a special NIA court in Yupia, Arunachal Pradesh. Ketok has been charged under the IPC sections related to criminal conspiracy and murder and relevant provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.

The convoy of Khonsa MLA Tirong Aboh was ambushed by armed terrorists of the NSCN (IM) on May 21, 2019 near Pansum Thong village in Tirap district. The MLA was travelling to Khonsa from Dibrugarh. He was among 11 people killed in the ambush, while three others suffered injuries, officials said.

The agency had charge-sheeted four accused — Luckin Mashangva, Jai Kishan Sharma, Yangte Josaham and Napong Jenpi — on January 27, 2020. In its probe, the NIA has found that NSCN (IM) members had allegedly conspired to kill the MLA and others due to his opposition to extortion activities of the terror group in Tirap, officials said.

The agency has found that some NSCN (IM) members, led by self-styled “major general” Rockwang Tangkhul, alias Absolom Tangkhul, who has been absconding, formed a group to execute the killing. The group was financed by Jai Kishan Sharma, it said. NSCN (IM) members had on an earlier occasion threatened the MLA and his supporters for their opposition to criminal activities of the group, the NIA has alleged.