The Manipur government has spent approximately Rs 2.35 lakh for shifting these militants from Shajiwa Jail in the state, to Tihar.

All four were lodged in Imphal’s Shajiwa Jail for the past four months under the National Security Act (NSA). They are reportedly cadres of the United National Liberation Front (UNLF), Kanglei Yawol Kanna Lup (KYKL), Kangleipak Communist Party-military unit (KCP-MC), and the Kuki Revolutionary Army (KRA) outfits. Unwilling to take chances, the Manipur government, sources said, had hired a special aircraft from the BSF to shift the four to Tihar Jail.

According to sources in Tihar, the four ultras had become too “troublesome” to handle for the authorities at Shajiwa Jail. The jail authorities there reportedly could not stop them from using mobile phones inside the jail and also could not “control them”, sources said, adding that they enjoyed a lot of “sympathy” even inside the jail.

“The officers had discussed the behaviour of these hardcore militants in the Manipur jail and then zeroed in on Tihar,” a source said.

Tihar Jail spokesperson Sunil Gupta said: “Militants from Jammu and Kashmir have earlier been shifted to our jail due to security reasons. This is the first time that militants from the Northeast have been shifted here.”

The four have been put in different cells in high-security wards.

Among the four is Sanjenbam Khomba, alias Captain Basil, a former UNLF cadre caught by the Army in Shimla (Himachal Pradesh) and then taken to Shajiwa Jail in Imphal. The other three have been identified as Thoudam Naobi alias Boby (35), second lieutenant of KCP; Khangenbam Raju alias Apabi (31), member of KYKL; and Potssangbam Leibakmacha Meetei alias Tomba (36), a member of KRA.