NIA begins grilling 11 terror suspects held in Assam–Tripura STF crackdown

Guwahati, Jan 6: Senior officials of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) have begun interrogating 11 suspected terrorists arrested by the Assam Police Special Task Force (STF) in a coordinated crackdown spanning Assam and Tripura.

Police sources said NIA officers arrived in Guwahati on Monday and have since been questioning the arrested individuals, who were picked up during simultaneous raids conducted under STF’s Operation Praghat on December 29, 2025.

Sources further added that the interrogation will not be limited to the NIA alone. Investigation agencies from other states, including Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh, are also expected to question the accused in the coming days, pointing to possible inter-state linkages.

Those arrested have been identified as Nasim Uddin alias Najimuddin alias Tamim (24), Junab Ali (38), Afrahim Hussain (24), Mizanur Rehman (46), Sultan Mehmud (40), Md Siddique Ali (46), Rasidul Aalam (28), Mahibul Khan (25), Sharuk Hussain (22), Md Dilbar Razak (26) and Jagir Miah (33).

Ten of the accused were arrested from various locations in Assam, while Jagir Miah was apprehended in Tripura.

The arrests have shed light on what police describe as a highly organised extremist ecosystem functioning across the Northeast.

Addressing a press briefing earlier at the Jyoti–Bishnu Kala Mandir in Khanapara on December 30, STF chief Partha Sarathi Mahanta had revealed a structured network operating both online and offline, with strong transnational connections.

According to Mahanta, extremist outfits, including modules linked to the banned Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) and the Imam Mahmuder Kafila (IMK), have been systematically indoctrinating sympathisers through encrypted digital platforms.

“The IMK module was detected during intelligence analysis. It is a Bangladesh-based offshoot of the JMB,” Mahanta had said, adding that Indian security agencies have been closely monitoring jihadi activities in Assam and the wider Northeast based on sustained intelligence inputs.

Highlighting the changing nature of extremist mobilisation, Mahanta said groups were increasingly relying on what investigators describe as “digital jihad”.

The Assam Police said the first phase of Operation Praghat has concluded, but further phases will follow.

Investigators are continuing to track additional operatives, funding channels and potential sleeper cells linked to the network, even as central agencies deepen their probe.