New Delhi: Close on the heels of a viral social media post in Meghalaya about the revival of an outlawed armed outfit comes an IED (improvised explosive device) blast in Shillong’s Harijan colony on March 9. Latest media reports say while three persons have been nabbed in relation to a case on demanding funds to revive the banned outfit – the Garo National Liberation Army (GNLA), two other persons, including an interlocutor representing another outlawed armed outfit in peace talks with the government, have been arrested in the IED case. The IED blast occurred around 10:30 pm on March 9 at the Harijan colony in Shillong which has been in the news regarding the resistance of the Sikh community to move to another location identified by the state government. One local resident was injured in the blast. “We have arrested two persons based on strong evidence of their involvement in the IED blast,” Rituraj Ravi, the district police chief of the East Khasi Hills told the United News of India. The arrests were carried out on March 10. While one of them has been identified as 26-year-old Ebakorda Nongpluh, arrested from Shillong, the other person is 58-year-old Tarson Lymba, currently the disciplinary secretary of Hynniewtrep National Youth Front (HNYF), picked from Dawki close to the India-Bangladesh border. Lymba was also the interlocutor for the peace talks that the state government had begun with the banned armed outfit, the Hynniewtrep National Liberation Council (HNLC). Earlier this year, HNLA, however, walked out of the peace talks on several grounds including the government not lifting the ban on the outfit and also not closing cases registered against their leaders.Lymba’s arrest in the case has created a stir in some circles of the state, even as HNYF president Sadon Blah met Ravi on Monday, March 11, to vouch for his innocence. “Lymba’s arrest is unacceptable to us. He is known to have a very calm demeanour and would not engage in such unlawful acts, “ Blah told reporters in Shillong. Stating that the organisation would wait for the police investigation to be done before deciding its next course of action, Blah added, “He has been part of the peace talks right from picking up the HNLC cadres from Dawki (after they entered India from Bangladesh).”The arrests have come close on the heels of three other arrests carried out by the police in the North Garo Hills district on March 5, based on a complaint filed on February 25 by a local resident about having received a demand to revive the banned outfit, GNLA. The demand for funds came just days after a press release had gone viral on social media announcing the revival of GNLA in the Garo hills. The state government had, thereafter, said the police were looking into the matter.GNLA was widely believed to have ceased to exist with the killing of its top leader Sohan D Shira in 2018. This past March 5, Bruno A Sangma, the North Garo Hills superintendent of police told The Meghalayan that on receiving the FIR regarding the demand for money, the district police “swung into action and began an investigation”.“During the probe, we successfully managed to arrest three persons, including the kingpin who is a former militant.”