The family members of Phul Chand Ram, who was killed recently in a gun-battle between the ULFA and the police, have blamed the police for his death.
As the doctors carried out a second autopsy on the body of the executive director of the Food Corporation of India (FCI) in Delhi on Sunday, the Government of Assam continued to draw flak for the mess many now refers to as Ramayana.
The bereaved family of Mr Ram accused the police of deliberately “assassinating” the 58-year-old head of the Food Corporation of India’s operations in North-East in an operation that apparently lacked the planning, precautions and precisions required for rescuing hostages from armed kidnappers.
The ULFA militants abducted Ram from Guwahati on April 17 last.
He was killed in a gun-battle between his captors and the policemen at Barka Panitenga in the Kamrup district of central Assam on July 11 last. Two militants were also killed.
“The police deliberately killed my father as the state government wanted to wash its hands of the problem and did not want more embarrassment after failing to get him released for almost three months,” said the slain Food Corporation of India honcho’s son, Praveen Gautam.
Second autopsy
Though a post-mortem was done at the Guwahati Medical College Hospital on July 12 last, Mr Ram’s family insisted on a second autopsy after his body was flown to Delhi.
“We can no more trust the government of Assam. We don’t have faith in the post-mortem examination carried out in the hospital run by the state government,” said Praveen.
Controversial
The controversial encounter took place at the house of Govinda Deka, a farmer of the Barka Panitenga village. He said the gun-totting ULFA militants had forced him to spare a room for them and their hostage.
Lending credence to the allegations by Mr Ram’s family, Mr Deka’s daughter Kamini told mediapersons that the policemen — soon after storming into the house — had opened fire at the room, where the two ULFA militants were holding the FCI official captive.
She also said that the policemen had not asked the militants to surrender and continued to fire although the hostage had been repeatedly shouting from inside the room: “Mein Ram hoon, mujhe mat maro” (I am Ram, don’t shoot me.)
The police later arrested Deka and his wife Namoni Deka for harbouring the militants and detained Kamini and her two sisters for interrogation.
“We had intelligence inputs about the militants’ presence in the house. But we did not know that Mr Ram was with them too,” said the deputy Inspector General of Police G P Singh.
The Opposition parties like the AGP and BJP censured Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi’s government for its failure to rescue Mr Ram alive. The former chief minister and leader of the Asom Gana Parishad (Progressive) Prafulla Mahanta sought central intervention to unearth the truth and punish those who are responsible for the FCI official’s death.