NIA summons former Nagaland CM Zeliang in extortion probe

NEW DELHI: Days after Nagaland election results, the National Investigation Agency has issued summons to former chief minister TR Zeliang, asking him to appear before it in Delhi on March 13 in connection with a probe related to alleged “tax collection” and “extortion” from state government departments by banned Naga insurgent groups.
The NIA has asked the former Nagaland CM to appear with the documents pertaining to the illegal payments. TOI exclusively accessed the copy of the summon sent to Zeliang.

Earlier, just before the elections in the state, NIA had summoned for questioning three senior officials of Zeiang’s CMO, including his officer on special duty (OSD) Ruokuovizo, and two public relation officers, Karibo and Kuirang.

NIA sources say former Nagaland CM Zeliang’s name has emerged while probing payments to National Socialist Council of Nagaland (Khaplang) from state government funds.

NIA has been investigating the extortion cases in Nagaland since August 2016.

Earlier, NIA had arrested four Nagaland government officers last year and it was revealed that the banned insurgent group NSCN(K) was given around Rs 20 crore in just four years by the officers by sharing with the outfit funds from the state exchequer.

The federal anti-terror probe agency had recovered payment slips and registers which established that the arrested officers were hand in glove with NSCN(K) in its “illegal tax collection” racket.

NIA probe has found that S Khetoshe Sumi, finance in charge of NSCN(K) who was arrested last year, was extorting money from state government officials for which instructions were coming from Isak Sumi, a Myanmar-based key member of the outfit, who handles all the finances for anti-India operations.

In its chargesheet filed in 2017 against Isak Sumi, Khetoshe Sumi and another finance collection agent, Victo Swu, NIA had claimed that they raised funds through illegal tax collection and extorted money from government offices to support the banned organization in its activities.