Surrendra Paul

May 24: Ulfa chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa was today acquitted in the Surrendra Paul murder case that has yielded no convictions 22 years after the slaying stunned the country, shook up the tea industry and set the stage for President’s rule in Assam.

In the intervening years, a generation change took place in the business empire that Calcutta-based Surrendra Paul left behind and which is now known as the Apeejay Surrendra Group and is helmed by his son Karan Paul. Surrendra Paul’s daughters Priya and Priti are actively involved in the business and the group’s Park Hotel remains a landmark of Calcutta.

Surrendra Paul, brother of UK-based businessman Swraj Paul, was killed by suspected Ulfa cadres at Laipuli in Upper Assam’s Tinsukia district, about 500km from Guwahati, on April 9, 1990.

Surrendra Paul, the chairman of Assam Frontier Tea Ltd (later renamed Apeejay Tea Ltd), was travelling in a car along with the general manager of the company, Ashish Kumar Choudhary, after visiting a tea garden when they were fired upon by unidentified gunmen at Laipuli.

Both suffered bullet injuries and Surrendra Paul later died of his injuries.

Today, H.C. Sharma, the judge at the designated Tada court in Guwahati, acquitted Rajkhowa, giving the prime accused the benefit of the doubt. The judge said the prosecution had failed to prove the charges beyond all reasonable doubt. The case papers mentioned the name as “Surendra” though the business group spells it as “Surrendra”.

Outside the court, Rajkhowa told reporters: “We never indulged in criminal activities since ours is a political movement.”

“The court acquitted him from all charges and set him at liberty,” Rajkhowa’s lawyer Bijon Kumar Mahajan said.

The acquittal has come at a time the Union home ministry is engaged in talks with Rajkhowa. Several rounds of talks have been held between the home ministry and the interlocutor on the one hand and the Ulfa chairman on the other.

Today’s verdict means that four of the six people charged in the case have been cleared. The two remaining accused — Ulfa commander-in-chief Paresh Barua and general secretary Golap Barua alias Anup Chetia — are believed to be in Myanmar and Bangladesh, respectively.

Pradip Gogoi, the Ulfa vice-chairman who was arrested in Calcutta in 1998, Saurav Gogoi, the outfit’s commander in Dibrugarh and Tinsukia, and Jugal Kishore Mahanta, its president in the two districts, were the three acquitted earlier.

Asked whether the government will challenge Rajkhowa’s acquittal in a higher court, a government advocate said that the decision would have to taken at the highest level in the state government.

The tea industry declined to comment on today’s ruling. “It is too sensitive an issue to comment on,” the secretary of the Assam branch Indian Tea Association, Dhiraj Kakati, said.

The murder of Surrendra Paul had compelled the Centre to change its approach towards insurgency in Assam. The Centre eventually dismissed the then AGP-led government under chief minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta and an army operation codenamed Bajrang was launched.

Delhi also ensured that senior tea executives were airlifted from Upper Assam. The murder of Surrendra Paul, who was known for personally touring tea gardens, spread shock waves so deep that many owners based in Calcutta stopped visiting estates in Assam.

After Surrendra Paul’s death, his wife Shirin Paul became chairperson and the business was managed by his brother Jit Paul. Karan Paul was studying in the US when he lost his father.

Karan joined the business under guidance of Jit Paul, who left active management to his nephew five years before his death.

Karan now chairs the group. His sister Priya runs the hotel business independently. The other sibling, Priti, looks after retail, real estate and shipping.