Jewel Garlossa, the outfit’s commander, and his associates were arrested from a construction company guesthouse on Bannerghatta Road.
DHD, which the Union Home Ministry had declared as an unlawful organisation, is also known as Black Widow.
City police sources said the militants were in Bangalore for more than three months, changing their hideouts frequently to avoid detection. All the three were produced before a magistrate.
Along with Garlossa, the group’s fundraiser S Rehman was also picked up. However, the identity of the third person is yet to be ascertained.
Meanwhile, the Assam police sought to secure the custody of the “most wanted” militants. “Arrangements are being made for their travel and they are expected to leave the city tonight,’’ an officer said.
The police suspect that the three DHD militants were in Bangalore for fund-raising. To this end, they are investigating who they contacted in the past three months and how they could lodge themselves in the guesthouse of a reputed construction company.
What is Black Widow?
It is an armed underground group which is also known as the Jewel Garlossa faction of the Dima Halam Daogah or DHD (J). Its roots can be traced to the Dimasa National Security Force (DNSF), a group formed in 1993 to “safeguard” the interests of the Dimasa tribe, the largest tribe in the North Cachar Hills (NCH) district. The NCH is one of two hills districts of Assam and divides the Brahmaputra and Barak valleys. A critical railway line passes through the district, serving as a vital link to transport essential commodities between Tripura, Mizoram and Manipur.
Due to the militant threats, the few goods trains that now run on this line have bullet-proof engines, sources said.
While DNSF surrendered, two of its leaders, Dilip Nunisa and Garlossa, stayed out to float DHD in 1995.
On January 1, 2004, when the DHD, under chairman Nunisa, signed a ‘ceasefire’ agreement with the Indian government, Garlossa was removed from the post of ‘commander-in-chief’ and expelled for forming the ‘Black Widow’, also known as DHD (J).
A few years back, the Centre entered into a tripartite (including the Assam government) suspension of operation agreement with the DHD.