Meghalaya Police on Monday came close to nabbing the prime accused in the kidnapping and killing of an Intelligence Bureau officer, but the assailant managed to escape with bullet injuries, an official said.
However, Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) commandos arrested A'chik Songna An'pachakgipa Kotok (ASAK) commander Sengbat D. Shira's aide Tartiush Sangma in an operation.
"We had laid a trap to arrest the ASAK militants by asking them to collect the extortion money they had demanded from a local businessman at Samanda," Davies Marak, district police chief of East Garo Hills, told IANS.
On reaching the spot, three militants opened fire at the decoy police team which led to a gun fight.
"In the gun battle, we suspect that Shira sustained bullet injuries and managed to escape along with another aide," Marak said.
Shira is wanted for the kidnapping and killing of Intelligence Bureau officer Bikash Singh and cloth merchant Kamal Saha in South Garo Hills district, bordering Bangladesh.
The bodies of Singh and Saha were recovered on October 27, a month after they were kidnapped from a forest near Bolchugre village.