Tinsukia (Assam): Assam Police has unearthed a suspected inter-state terror funding network and arrested five people, including a students’ union leader here and an accused in Maharashtra, officials said on Sunday.
They said investigations are on to ascertain the motive behind the extortion and funding network, and the organisation for which the funds were being collected.
Addressing a joint press conference here, additional superintendent of police (HQ) Mrinmoy Das and Dinesh Pratap Singh Rathore, Crime Branch, said intelligence inputs were received from a central agency that extorted money from Tinsukia district was being channelled outside the region.
During the investigation, the name of one Debashish Gohain, working as a journalist with a news portal, surfaced, following which he was apprehended.
The officers said that during interrogation, Gohain revealed that a substantial amount of money had been transferred to Sheikh Wasim, a resident of Maharashtra.
Wasim, who had travelled to the North Eastern region several times in the past, has been arrested by Tinsukia Police with assistance from Maharashtra Police in the western state, and will be brought here for further questioning.
Based on the investigations so far, police have also arrested Deepu Chetia Patra of Jorhat, Mrityunjay Konwar of Naharkatia (Dibrugarh) and Samar Jyoti Gohain of Tinsukia, a students’ union leader.
Police said the accused were involved in collecting funds and transferring them outside the state, with investigators suspecting links to extremist activities.
“Only after detailed interrogation of all the accused, the exact motive behind the alleged funding network and the organisation for which the funds were being collected will become clear,” the two officers said.
