Jorhat, May 27 :     Ulfa assistant publicity secretary Swadhinata Phukan alias Kabiranjan Saikia was shot dead by Jorhat police at Gandheli village in the Garumorah area under Pulibor police station late last night. His body was handed over to his father Hemo Saikia this evening. Phukan is the third central committee member of the Ulfa to have been killed in Jorhat district this year. His death has dealt a major blow to the banned outfit as he was the brain behind the outfit's propaganda strategy. Jorhat superintendent of police Gyanandra Prasad Singh said they had information from a top Ulfa leader that Phukan was in the neighbourhood. 'He was using the area as a corridor to cross over to the North Bank,' he added. Singh said the police laid an ambush in the area at 1.30 am and challenged the Ulfa leader who was riding a bicycle. The latter fired two rounds at the police who retaliated, killing Phukan. A China-made automatic pistol, three computer floppies and incriminating documents were recovered from Phukan's possession. An identity card in the name of Biman Bora, a research scholar at Jadavpur University in Calcutta, was also recovered. It bore Phukan's photograph. Local residents, however, said Phukan was residing at the house of Manjurani Devi, a doctor with Upper Gorumora public health centre. They said he had been staying there for the past two months. Police picked him up last night, they added. He was known in the area as Biman Bora. Phukan, who hails from Milanpur in Nagaon district, was a key functionary of the Ulfa. He was the link person between the media and the outlawed organisation and was responsible for bringing out Ulfa newsletter Swadhinata (freedom) and hosting the Ulfa website. Phukan had a narrow escape in Meghalaya last year when several of his accomplices were apprehended and the Ulfa central publicity cell busted. Sources said Phukan had been frequenting Majuli for the last couple of months as the Ulfa planned to set up its central publicity office there. This was revealed by two functionaries of the Ulfa's central committee - Bhaskar Dutta and Samiran Bhuyan - who were arrested on March 27 by Jorhat police. Sources said Phukan had to flee the island following recent tightening of security. Although the Army had suspended operations in Jorhat district since 1997, it was operating in the island, a subdivision of the district, following information that senior Ulfa functionaries were camping there.