Zeliang today called on Union home minister Rajnath Singh and briefed him about the steps taken by the state government after the lynching of a rape accused in Dimapur on March 5.
The state government has suspended the deputy commissioner and superintendent of Dimapur.
The chief minister said some vested interests were trying to communalise the situation. "Someone from Nagaland is trying to communalise and politicise the situation," he told The Telegraph.
Sources said the incident involves at least one militant outfit in Dimapur.
Zeliang also told the home minister that media reports about a state government report stating that there was "no rape" were false. He said investigation into the incident was not complete, hence it could not be concluded whether it was rape or not. It was up to the courts to decide, he said. "We have not said anything of the sort in our report to the Centre," he said. Home ministry sources had reportedly said that a report sent by the Nagaland government indicated that the accusation of rape was questionable.
Apprehending attacks on northeasterners following the lynching, the Centre today sent an advisory to Haryana, Maharashtra and Karnataka asking them to ensure safety of people from the Northeast.
Hundreds of people from the region live in cities like Gurgaon, Bangalore and Pune. Governments have burnt their fingers earlier during attacks on people from the Northeast, leading to exodus from these cities.
The Centre's advisory is indirectly a recognition that the Dimapur incident was not only the lynching of a rape accused but a result of stereotyping. The accused, Syed Farid Khan of Assam's Karimganj town, was branded a Bangla-deshi immigrant, dragged out of Dimapur Central Jail on March 5 and lynched by a mob.
Incidents of reprisal are apprehended if the incident assumes a communal colour, officials said.
In 2012, hundreds had boarded trains as rumours swirled about reprisal attacks on northeasterners to avenge the death of Muslims in riots in lower Assam that year.
The Centre, sensing the potential of the Dimapur incident to assume a communal overtone, is not taking chances.
The incident has rocked both the Houses of Parliament and has resulted in tension between Assam and Nagaland. Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi has said the victim was not a Bangladeshi national.
Nagaland inspector-general of police (range) Wabang Jamir told The Telegraph over phone this evening that the girl had not changed her earlier statement that she had been raped twice by Khan in a hotel in Dimapur on February 23. "She has not changed her statement and our investigation is on. I cannot comment further on our investigation. So far we have arrested 47 people in connection with the March 5 incident and we will make more arrests," he said.
Sources in Nagaland, however, said most of the arrested were released after interrogation. Around 20 people, mostly young students, have been detained while the ringleaders are absconding.
Dimapur police said they were focused on arresting the masterminds.
Dimapur police said their crack teams have been raiding the houses of suspects and would continue to do so. The arrests were made based on photographic and video evidence shot mostly by the mob and intelligence personnel.
The police also said they would record the statements of civic and student organisations.
Asked whether any militant had been arrested, a senior police officer skirted the question. Sources alleged that militants had not only instigated the mob to take the law into their hands but had spearheaded the lynching.