Assam: Court grants bail to ex-ULFA commander in 1993 kidnapping case

Guwahati, Nov 17 (PTI) A court here granted bail to a former top commander of ULFA(I), Dristi Rajkhowa alias Manoj Kumar Rabha, in an over 30-year-old kidnapping case.

Rajkhowa’s lawyer Bijon Mahajan said his client was among the accused in the 1993 kidnapping case of a railway contractor.

“The contractor, Kanhialal Gupta, was abducted by suspected ULFA militants from Kheroni area in Karbi Anglong district in 1993. He was carrying a huge amount of cash but the rebels did not take it from him. A case was registered the same year and police submitted the charge-sheet in the local court in 2001, with Rajkhowa among those named," he said.

The Karbi Anglong Sessions court, while going through the documents submitted during trial, found the case fit for pursuance under Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act (TADA) and accordingly, forwarded it to the special court here, Mahajan said.

He added that an arrest warrant was first issued against Rajkhowa on March 2, 2024, and reissued on different dates, even though he had already surrendered.

“Today, Rajkhowa appeared before the court with a prayer for recalling the warrant of arrest and requesting bail. We contended before the court that he had never received summons and appeared before the court on being informed about the pendency of the case by another ULFA leader, who happens to be an accused in another pending TADA case,” Mahajan said.

"After hearing both sides, the court allowed Rajkhowa to go on bail, setting the amount at Rs 1 lakh with two sureties of the same value," Mahajan added.

A former ‘deputy commander’ of ULFA (I) and a known explosives expert, Rajkhowa had joined the ruling BJP earlier this year. PTI SSG SSG MNB