GUWAHATI
Outlawed United Liberation Front of Asom-Independent or ULFA (I) has executed two of its members to death for allegedly spying for the “occupational Indian forces”.
In a statement issued on Saturday, the outfit’s publicity wing said the Assam police had planted Dhanjit Das and Sanjib Sarma to provide information about the activities of ULFA (I) members.
The outfit operates from the bases of a Naga extremist group in Myanmar’s Sagaing Division.
“The two were found guilty of working as moles of the Indian system. They were executed today [Saturday] according to the provisions of our constitution,” ULFA (I) chief Paresh Baruah said from an undisclosed location.
The group said Das, from western Assam’s Barpeta district, was caught a day after he tried to flee its camp on April 24. He had admitted to motivating ULFA (I) members to quit, besides supplying information about people associated with the outfit to the police.
Sarma was caught with “advanced communication devices” that were used to relay information to the police, the outfit claimed after releasing a video showing him confessing that the police and the Indian Army made him infiltrate the ULFA (I) to spy for them.
In the video, Sarma is heard saying he was promised ₹1-crore by Joint Commissioner of Police (Guwahati) Partha Sarathi Mahanta to supply information on the outfit. He also said the police told him his undercover assignment would be an opportunity to avenge the death of his elder brother, Apurba Kumar Sarma, a para-commando in the Army, killed in an ambush in Manipur a few months ago.
Mr. Mahanta had trashed the claim.
Recruitment drive
The ULFA (I), which declared a ceasefire almost a year ago, has been on a recruitment drive. A few sportspersons and a Youth Congress leader are among those believed to have joined it in the recent months.
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said in April that the recruitment of new cadres by the outfit was disturbing when efforts were on to bring its leaders to the talks table.
