Editor's house ransacked

DIMAPUR, October 3: The residence of the editor of a local daily has been ransacked and robbed by a gang of robbers who also tried to abduct her husband after the couple refused to pay Rs 5 lakh to them, police said today. Armed robbers, who claimed to be National Socialist Council of Nagaland (Khaplang) activists, raided the house of Nagaland Page editor, Monalisa Changkija, at Duncan Basti area early yesterday and demanded the money. When Changkija and her husband, Bendang Longkumer, deputy general manager of the Nagaland Industrial Development Corporation (NIDC), refused to pay, the robbers started ransacking the house and looted a number of valuables, the sources said. They also tried to abduct Longkumer. Though the robbers claimed to be NSCN(K) activists, police said all of them were criminals recently released on bail. Three of them were arrested during the day and some of the looted items were recovered. The arrested robbers admitted during interrogation that the SBBL gun which they had used was stolen from the residence of the stringer of a Calcutta-based English daily. The car in which they came was also stolen. One of the accused is still at large.