Sonam Wangchuk, the Ladakh statehood activist arrested on Friday under the stringent National Security Act (NSA) after the violent protests in the Union territory left four people dead and dozens injured, has been shifted to a jail in Rajasthan's Jodhpur, sources said.
Wangchuk was taken into custody at 2:30 pm by a police team led by Ladakh Police chief S D Singh Jamwal earlier in the day and later shifted to Jodhpur. He has been kept in a high-security cell with round-the-clock CCTV surveillance.
As a precautionary measure, the Union Territory administration has suspended mobile internet services in the Leh area.
Sonam Wangchuk's role in Ladakh statehood protest
A prominent voice for the Leh Apex Body (LAB) and the Kargil Democratic Alliance (KDA), Wangchuk has been at the forefront of a five-year-long agitation demanding statehood and constitutional safeguards for the people of Leh and Kargil, which became part of the Union Territory of Ladakh after being carved out of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir in August 2019.
The BJP-led Centre has accused the climate activist of instigating the recent violence in Leh, an allegation Wangchuk has firmly denied.
"To say it was instigated by me is to find a scapegoat rather than addressing the core of the problem, and this will lead us nowhere," Wangchuk told PTI on Thursday, adding that the unrest reflected the frustration of the region’s youth.
His arrest came a day after the Union home ministry revoked the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA) licence of the Students' Educational and Cultural Movement of Ladakh (SECMOL), an organisation founded by Wangchuk, citing alleged financial irregularities and a fund transfer considered against "national interest."
