Guwahati: While there is hardly any campaigning going on in the Autonomous Council constituency of Assam, a large consignment of arms have made their way in to NC Hills.
A crore of rupees in cash was recovered from Phogen Hojai, a civil contractor who was accompanied by his colleague Babul Kempri.
The duo were picked up when they were waiting to meet a Mizo arms smuggler near Guwahati who was supposed to come to collect a payment against a recently received arms consignment of 60AKs meant for the militant outfit DHD(J).
"We recovered two pistols, Rs one crore cash and two letterheads. The apprehended persons on behalf of DHD9J0 were going to purchase arms. This is the biggest recovery of cash," ASP Debojit Deori said.
It is believed that DHD(J) supremo Niranjan Hojai, now based in Nepal, had instructed Mohit Hojai the CEO of NC Hills Autonomous Council to make this payment.
"I am a PWD contractor. The bag was given from the CEO's house," said Babul Kempri, a civil contractor.
Such payments are reportedly made by the Autonomous Council on a regular basis. In June 2008 the executive member of the NCHAC Purnendu Langthasa was killed by DHD(J) despite paying up. The Autonomous Council of NC Hills and Karbianglong are directly funded from the Centre.
With such massive siphoning of development funds, it is not difficult to see why these hills are so underdeveloped.