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Guwahati, March 1: An alleged linkman of the Joel Gorlosa faction of the Dima Halam Daogah (DHD) walked out of Guwahati Central Jail free soon after being sentenced to three-year imprisonment today as he had overstayed in jail.
A designated court of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) sentenced Samir Ahmed, an accused in the multi-crore Dima Hasao scam, to three-year imprisonment but set it off against the time — more than three years — he had already spent in prison during the investigation and trial of the case.
NIA special judge Samarjit Dey today convicted Ahmed under Section 19 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act in NIA case number 02/2009. The sentence ran concurrent with the three-year sentence he was handed on August 10 last year under the same section in NIA case number 01/2009. Both the cases were related to diversion of funds meant for development of Dima Hasao district. The 01/2009 case related to seizure of cash from two alleged DHD-J linkmen in Guwahati and 02/2009 to seizure of cash from an alleged linkman of the outfit in Dima Hasao district.
The court also asked Ahmed to pay a fine of Rs 500 or undergo imprisonment for a week.
Ahmed, a former employee of HSBC Bank, Bangalore, who hails from Upper Assam’s Dibrugarh town, was arrested along with the DHD (J) chairman from Bangalore on June 3, 2009. He has since been behind bars. He was a close associate of Gorlosa and had facilitated his stay in Bangalore and helped him acquire fake identity documents. In Bangalore, Ahmed was a resident of Bannerughatta Road when he was arrested. Ahmed was a classmate of Partha Warisa, an alleged DHD (J) cadre, when he was studying in Haflong, the district headquarters of Dima Hasao district.
In June last year, Ahmed expressed his desire to become a government approver and recorded his confession before a magistrate. After recording his statement, Ahmed had told reporters that he had decided to lay bare his link with Gorlosa and other leaders of the outfit as he wanted to become an approver.
During trial of the two NIA cases, Ahmed had submitted in court that he had confessed his guilt of his own accord and nobody has forced him to do so. The court accepted his plea of guilt in both the cases and convicted him under Section 19 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
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