Bollywood's shady influence

The arrest of a glamorous, award-winning actress in the hideout of one of India's most wanted men has once again exposed Indian film industry's links with alleged terrorists and the criminal underworld.

Police and intelligence officials stumbled upon Urikhinbam Devita - a 24-year-old actress who has starred in more than 30 films - last week when they raided the New Delhi den of R. K. Raghunath, key commander of the Kanglei Yawol Kann Lup (KYKL), a banned group fighting for independence for the state of Manipur in India's volatile northeast, bordering China and Myanmar.

Devita won the best actress award for Lakhipurgee Lakhipyari at a regional film festival last year, one of 11 prizes the film bagged. Now she has been held under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act used for prosecuting 'enemies' of the state, although her exact role in KYKL is still shrouded in mystery.

Her arrest coincided with the detention of well-known Manipuri cinematographer L. Surajkanta, accused by security forces of aiding and abetting separatist rebels.

Clashes between security forces and groups such as KYKL, the Revolutionary People's Front, the People's Liberation Army of Manipur and the United National Liberation Front have left more than 10,000 dead in two the past two decades.

Manipur was a princely state which New Delhi annexed in 1949 although it preferred independence to merging with India. Ethnically, Manipuris are closer to Southeast Asians than mainland Indians, whom they accuse of racial discrimination.