We eliminated Purnendu for his design with Muslim immigrants, says Hojai

SILCHAR, Oct 29: Niranjan Hojai, the ‘commander-in-chief’ of the Jewel Garlosa faction of the Dima Halam Daogah (DHD-J), admitted that the outfit had eliminated Congress leader and the then North Cachar Hills Autonomous Council (NCHAC) Chief Executive Member (CEM) Purnendu Langthasa in order to put an end to his design to give settlement to illegal Muslim immigrants in the hill district.

In an exclusive interview with The Sentinel today, Hojai said: "We used to collect money from the contractors. Though we had the support of the Dimasas, they are too poor to help us financially. Purnedu Langthasa, former NCHAC CEM was killed by the DHD (J) as he had reportedly taken an initiative to give settlement to illegal Muslim immigrants in NC Hills for his political design. We also eliminated a Muslim high school teacher, who was an ISI agent. He used to run a fake currency racket in NC Hills. We had a suspicion on the design of some Muslim immigrants in NC Hills."

Hojai argued that the DHD-J was erroneously called ‘Black Widow’. "Black Widow was a group of Dimasa youths who took up arms during Hmar-Dimasa ethnic clash. Once the clash was over, a good number of the Black Widow cadres joined the pro-talk faction of the DHD led by Dilip Nunisa. However, a few Black Widow cadres like Daku Sing Dimasa did join our outfit. From the very beginning we called our outfit as Dimasa (J), as ‘J’ stands for Jewel Garlosa, our leader who was dethroned by power-hungry Dilip Nunisa."

"Jewel and I are buddies from our tender days. However, I was not, by any means, associated with the DHD. When Jewel was thrown out of the outfit, one day I came to know that Nunisa had sent his men to assassinate me. On the same night, I left my home, my wife and family," Hojai said, and added that he was first taken to Manipur where Kuki militants used to impart them guerrilla training. From there, they came in contact with the NSCN (IM). Hojai admitted that NSCN (IM) helped them in many ways. "But later we realized that they were actually using us to fill up their own coffers," he said.

On the delay in the works of the Silchar-Lumding Board Gauge Project, Hojai said the contractors are deliberately delaying the construction work by putting the blame on the DHD (J) in order to get the benefit of price escalation.

Hojai is hopeful that the Government will keep its promise of fulfilling the demands of the outfit within 100 days. In the first week of November, they will have the first round of talks with the government when the release of their leader Jewel Garlosa will top the agenda. THE SENTINEL