Tragic end of a hostage crisis
Guwahati : The killing of abducted FCI official Dr PC Ram in crossfire during a rescue operation on Wednesday night in a remote village in the capital of northeastern state of Assam, proved a total failure of the Assam Police in conducting the operation. Did Assam Police know that Dr PC Ram was held captive in the house of Gobinda Deka,a resident of Borka-Panitema village, 40 kms from the capital city? The State Government and Assam Police have said they had 'no information' that Ram was inside that house. "The body with similarity to Ram was only found after the firing stopped," Assam DGP RN Mathur said. The ChiefSecretary also aired the same view. On the other hand, DIG (CWR) G.P. Singh told this correspondent that Assam Police had information that two ULFA militants were hiding in the house of Deka with a'middle-aged' man. This means that Assam Police knew a 'midlle-aged' man was there and so securing his safe release should have been the priority. But that did not happen. It is really surprising that the Assam Police did not try to take adequate precautions to rescue Ram safe at a time when Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi said after his arrival from Europe trip: "Ram's release is the top priority of the Government." A joint team of the Assam Police and CRPF gheraoed the residence of Deka at 8.40 pm. Two Assam Police personnel proceeded to the house where the ULFA militants were taking shelter. Suddenly, there was firing from inside and the security men also retaliated. Singh said there was a heavy exchange of fire for over three hours and police were able to enter the house only around 12:30 am. They found two dead militants and the bullet- riddled body of an elderly man, who had a physical similarity to Ram, lying under a bed. "It's a case of a death in crossfire," Singh said. One of the killed rebels was identified as sergeant major of the ULFA's 28 battalion Rahul Deka alias Montu Gogoi alias Gautam Sarania. "A diary was found with his name on it. Rahul Deka was one of the wanted rebels. He hailed from Nalbari," a top police official said. The other rebel was identified as Bullet Sangma of Naokata, Goreswar. Police seized two AK-56 rifles, a pistol, a grenade, an IED and a huge amount of ammunition from the house. "They were young boys, they threatened us, and said they were from the ULFA. I saw an aged man and their arms, so I had to give them shelter," said Deka, owner of the house where the militants took shelter. From the past experiences (right from Sanjoy Ghose) we have seen that the Assam .Police have failed to control the hostage crisis and never, (never) got any edge on this issue. But, the tragedy lies in the fact that not once during the entire period of Ram's captivity since April 17 was there any attempt by any quarter to open channels of communication with the rebels to try and secure his freedom. This is a poor reflection of the incipient civil society in Assam. It is a question of the life of a person held hostage. After all, imagine the trauma that Ram's family has been undergoing all these days. And such a terrible end
Random Stories
16 Sep 2014 - 2:50pm |
AT News
Ruling Congress lost Silchar assembly seat in the bypolls conducted on Saturday. The defeat was so humiliating that the party candidate Arjun Dutta Majumdar had to remained satisfied with third...
25 Feb 2014 - 10:06am |
AT News
Bandhs and road blockades seem to have greeted Rahul Gandhi on his two days visit to Assam from Tuesday.Several organizations have enforced bandhs across the state raising their long standing demands...
27 Jul 2009 - 6:39am |
Jayanta Kumar Das
Kabirali Higher Secondary school has been recognized as an oldest high school in the district of Udalguri. The school is located between Kalaigaon and Udalguri town,10 km from Kalaigaon,.where more...
22 Sep 2014 - 5:34pm |
AT News
Rainwaters continue to wreak havoc in Guwahati with more and more areas of the premier north eastern city coming under the waters on Monday. This has forced the authorities to order shut down of all...
Other Contents by Author
GUWAHATI: Delegations of India and Bangladesh today met in Guwahati to discuss the issues relating to international border along Assam. Today's 109th Indo(Assam)-Bangaldesh boundary conference is a part of the series of border conference held every year.The meeting decided to complete construction of the missing and damaged pillars along the Indo-Bangladesh border. A survey in this reagard will begin in November and the construction will end by May next year..The meeting also decided to survey the missing and damaged pillars from MP No 2025 to 1050 this year. The field work will begin from December 10 and reconstruction/repair of missing/damaged pillars and construction of additional...
GUWAHATI: Several persons were injured when police resorted to fire on a protest rally organized by students activists in Diphu in Karbi Anglong district today. The protestors also damaged the town police outpost. Several police personnel had also been wounded. The rally was organized to protest the relaxation of land policy for non-tribals in Karbi Anglong. More than 10,000 activists of various tribal students' organisations had gathered to protest the relaxation of several clauses pertaining to the ownership and transfer rights of land by the Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council (KAAC) to non-tribals in the district. To disperse the protestors, the police resorted to lathi-charge and then...
In 1962, this is the route through which the Chinese soldiers entered India, almost unchallenged, to invade. This year too they have entered, but this time with gifts and sweets. On August 15, the Indian Army and Chinese Army held a border personnel meeting on the Himalayan heights of Bumla along the Sino-India border to celebrate the Independece Day. I was one of the media persons who attended the memorable function organized by the Indian Army. It was my first trip to Boomla, 15800 ft above the sea level.The BPM, hosted by the Indian side at the Maitrey Sthal to celebrate the 61st eve of our Independence Day, was led by Brigadiar Sanjay Kulkarni, the Indian Sector Commander under the...
GUWAHATI: A day after two female elephants were mowed down by a speeding empty goods train near Deepor Beel on the outskirts of Guwahati, the wildlife activists of Assam have called upon the NFR to adopt measures to control speed limit for the safety of the animals. Talking to this reporter, Dipak Talukdar of NGO Aranyak said: "In 2004, three elephants were killed on train tracks in the same place. There was no fog that the driver could not see the herd of elephants. The NFR should adopt measures so that these kind of events are not repeated again." He also said every year 20-30 elephants were killed in Assam for several reasons.Two female wild elephants, including a calf, were...
GUWAHATI : The ULFA is acquiring latest explosives to carry out subversive activities on the eve of the Independene Day. This came to light when the City Police was able to recover four packets of Liquid Explosive Gels from one of the ULFA rebels, arrested from Guwahati on Thursday night. The City Police has also arrested two private security guards for their links with the ULFA. Police sources said that these ULFA rebels were arrested from Dispur and Bharalumukh areas in the capital city. All the ULFA rebels hail from Baksa district. Police sources said one Dibyajyoti Boruah (23), a resident of Nagrijuli, Baska district, was arrested on Thursday night from Santipur area. Dibyajyoti had...
GUWAHATI: After years of toil, this would be a dictionary with a sweeping range. The Asomiya Jatiya Abhidhan, which is being compiled and edited by a 25-member team of lexicographers, would see the light of the day on January 1, 2010. The dictionary was first conceptualized at a workshop held in Jorhat under the aegis of the Assam Jatiya Siksha Samanway Parishad on July 7, 2002. The seminar papers presented at the workshop by noted scholars Dr Dilip Kumar Dutta, Dr Kabindra Nath Phukan, Dr Madan Mohan Sharma, Dr Bhimkanta Barua, Dr Benu Gogoi and Dr Debabrata Sharma, who is the chief editor of the Asomiya Jatiya Abhidhan, were brought out in a book-form exactly a year later. Now the first...
Guwahati : Six persons were killed in a landslide at 6.15 am today at Ganesh Nagar area in Jyoti Nagar under Chandmari Police Station. Official sources said that five bodies were recovered and BSF personnel are carrying out the rescue operation.The deceased have been identified as Gobinda Deka (45), Minoti Deka (40), Bhonita Deka (16), Jatin Deka and Dhruba Jyoti Deka (20). Sources said that Gobinda Deka had been residing in that area for past seven years. Due to rain during the last few days and earth-felling, a portion of the hill fell down on his house. The house was completely damaged.
GUWAHATI, July 18: Hordes of suspected Bangladeshis are being pushed into Asom from Nagaland near the New Sonowal area along the Mariani-Mokokchung Road in Jorhat district. Nagaland’s Ao Students’ Conference (ASC) gave a ‘clarion call’ on July 17 that illegal immigrants from Bangladesh should leave the State immediately, and those Nagas who harbour them in their houses would be treated as traitors of Nagaland.“Trade permits are issued to locals only, and therefore local businessmen employing Bangladeshis as their salesman or renting out their permits will be dealt befittingly,” the students’ body warned.According to reports available, a big group...
Guwahati : Suspected Karbi poachers last night killed another rhino in the Kaziranga National Park,taking the total number of rhinos at the world heritage site falling prey this year to nine.Park authorities said here the rhino was shot dead near the Goroimari camp of Bagori range of the park around 6.30 pm. The horn was carried away by the poachers. Sources said the poachers fired two rounds and immediately fled from the place. Forest guards then hemmed in on the area and a massive operation was launched to nab the poachers.This is the ninth rhino killed in the world heritage park this year.On July 3, another rhino was killed in the Burapahar range.Two days after the incident, authorities...
GUWAHATI: The two top officials who were kidnapped on Sunday were found dead today, official sources said. Kailash Jha, abducted manager of Cement Corporation of India (CCI), was killed and his body recovered from deep inside a forest in Karbi Anglong today, officials said. The body of Public Works Department (PWD) junior engineer Ajay Kumar Deka kidnapped on Saturday night, was recovered from Assam’s main city Guwahati this morning. Deka was kidnapped from Borbari under Dispur police station. According to Deka’s wife, Deka left for Chandmari on Saturday with his car (AS-O1-Z-8989), but did not return. His car was found abandoned at Six Mile in the city. Meanwhile, body of Jha...
Comments
Pages
Add new comment