How Assam’s Black Widow used govt money to fuel an insurgency
A SENIOR NIA OFFICIAL SAID THAT OTHER THAN STALLING TWO MAJOR GOVT PROJECTS, THE BLACK WIDOW IN TIME BECAME THE BIGGEST CHALLENGE TO THE GOVT’S WRIT IN ASSAM
The conviction of 15 members of the Black Widow — a now-disbanded Assam-based militant outfit — has brought to fore what is a well-known secret about government funds funnelled into insurgent activities in a few north-eastern states.
The court ruling on May 23 details the findings of National Investigation Agency (NIA) in the first case that it dealt with after its creation. The findings reveal a sophisticated web linking government officials, “businessmen”, private contractors, hawala operators, and militants.
“Black Widow diverted government funds and routed them through hawala channels to buy arms from dealers based in Thailand,Singapore and Malaysia,” an NIA official said.
The first step would usually start with awarding contracts for supply of office material to private contractors who held membership of the group. Funds meant for departments such as social welfare and PHED were diverted to shell companies and dummy directors of the firms would hand over the money to individuals in Kolkata to convert the same into dollars. These dollars would then be sent to arms dealers through hawala operators. Arms would be transported from Thailand, using multiple routes in border states in India.
A senior NIA official said that other than stalling two major government projects (East-West Highway corridor and Broad Gauge conversion project), Black Widow, with time, became the biggest challenge to the government’s writ in Assam.
Everything seemed to go well for the group till March 2009 when two members were caught transporting diverted government funds worth ₹1 crore in Assam.”Intelligence agencies already had leads on government funds being diverted but ₹1 crore was too big a sum and alarming. That’s when the home ministry decided that the group had to be stomped out completely,” said an official source, adding that within weeks, the NIA took over the case and chose Mukesh Singh as chief investigating officer.
Within months, more than 350 of the group’s militants had surrendered.
An insurgency to create Dimaland was initiated by Dimasa National Security Force (DNSF), who in 1995 ceased its operations, except for Jewel Garlosa, the selfstyled commander-in-chief of the group.
Opportunity provided itself to Garlosa to make major inroads in Assam.In 2003, the same year that he was ousted, 17 men Dimasa tribal men were abducted from Chachar district and allegedly killed by militants of Hmar’s People’s Convention-Democrats.
Widows of the 17 Dimasa men swore to take revenge for the killing of their husbands and began calling themselves Black Widows. Garlosa began to advocate the cause of a separate state for Dimasa tribe and adopted the name Black Widow followed by stepping up violence in Chachar, NC Hills, and Nagaon districts of Assam for almost a decade.
Garlosa and Niranjan were released on interim bail in 2011, following which they joined the BJP and became NCHAC members but agency sources say conviction of the two, and 13 others, is one of the most significant in NIA’s history.