Cartel link in Ram case A STAFF REPORTER
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1071129/asp/northeast/story_8604686.asp *Guwahati, Nov. 28:* Gauhati High Court today admitted a writ petition alleging that slain FCI executive director (Northeast) P.C. Ram had been abducted because he came in the way of a contractor-official cartel operating in the Food Corporation of India's office. Ram's younger brother Shivlochan Ram, who filed the petition, alleged that his brother's killing was part of a conspiracy to protect his abductors. Shivlochan submitted before the court that his brother had expressed apprehension about his safety as he was exposing the official-contractor nexus in the rice and sugar scams in the FCI. Ram had reportedly even brought the matter to the notice of his head office. He was so frustrated that he had sought a transfer. He was to leave for the US on April 23. The petitioner pointed out that a police investigation had found several grey areas in the police operation that had led to Ram's killing. He sought a CBI inquiry into the killing even as the investigative agency today registered a case in New Delhi against Ulfa activist Gobinda Deka and others in connection with the official's killing. Government advocate Raj Bora told the court that Dispur had already written to the CBI to take up the case. Justice Ranjan Gogoi directed the government to submit records of its recommendation to the CBI to take over the case in the court on Monday. Ram was abducted from Guwahati on April 17 and killed in captivity during an encounter between police and Ulfa at Panitela village near Changsari in Assam's Kamrup district on July 11. Quoting from the internal findings of the police, Shivlochan's advocate Nekibur Zaman said the CBI probe was necessary to get to the bottom of the truth as there had been a lot of discrepancies in the entire operation. The internal inquiry, conducted by inspector-general of police (border) R.M. Singh, reportedly stated that the police had information about the presence of Ulfa militants in the area by April 17 afternoon. But they launched the operation at night as if they were sure that the militants would camp there till then. The commandos who went for the operation were even sure in which room the Ulfa activists were holed up, it added. The petitioner alleged that all the Ulfa activists, who had been contacting Ram's family, were killed by the police without making any effort to arrest them. The police were given the phone numbers from which Ulfa was contacting Ram's family, but they did not act on the information. Singh, Zaman said, has stressed that the SIM card seized by the police from the spot should be analysed to find out whom the abductors had spoken to that day. Singh also observed that three audio cassettes were seized from the Ulfa hideout, but only one was produced before him. Photographs showed that an AK-series rifle found on a slain Ulfa cadre was locked, but later it was shown as unlocked. Zaman said all these loose ends lead to the suspicion that the police were in touch with the abductors. _______________________________________________ assam mailing list [email protected] http://assamnet.org/mailman/listinfo/assam_assamnet.org
