Guwahati, March 24: The Paresh Barua-led Ulfa (Independent) today accused BJP chief ministerial candidate Sarbananda Sonowal of using cadres of the then united Ulfa to kill Dibrugarh University student leader Saurav Bora on May 27, 1986.
An email attributed to the banned Ulfa-I alleged that Sonowal, now a Union minister, was present when Ulfa cadres attacked Bora.
It also accused Congress-turned-BJP leader Himanta Biswa Sarma and other politicians of using Ulfa cadres to carry out "political murders". Among the victims, it named Congress leader Manabendra Sarma, journalist Kamala Kalita and social activist Sanjay Ghose.
Ulfa-I claimed these killings were carried out without the consent of commander-in-chief Paresh Barua.
In recent years, Ulfa split into Barua's hard-line faction and a pro-talks camp that has joined the mainstream. Assam votes in Assembly elections next month.
In June 2012, Gauhati High Court had discharged Sonowal in the Bora murder case, setting aside a lower court's order for framing of charges against him. The high court cited the CBI finding that there was no material against Sonowal. It said general suspicion on the basis of hearsay cannot justify framing of criminal charges.
Today's email also accused Asom Gana Parishad leader Prafulla Mahanta of being the "vice-president" of the group that, in the late 1990s, carried out "secret killings" of Ulfa sympathisers and the rebels' family members. Mahanta was then chief minister.
Sonowal dismissed the Ulfa-I allegation and cited the high court and CBI decisions in his favour.
The Ulfa-I statement also claimed that the outfit had helped Sonowal become All Assam Students Union (Aasu) president in the early 1990s.
Pradip Gogoi, a leader of Ulfa's pro-talks faction, asked why Ulfa-I was raking up old issues before the elections.
"Why were they silent for so long?" he said. "I'm not aware of any Ulfa role in the selection of Aasu presidents; it's an internal matter of the students' organisation."
Another pro-talks faction leader, Mrinal Hazarika, said the Ulfa-I statement appeared politically motivated.
"The way they picked on AGP and BJP leaders, it seems an attempt to help the Congress in the elections," Hazarika said.
The United Regional Minority Council of Assam, to which Bora belonged, and the CPIML welcomed the Ulfa-I statement.
Lawyer Rituraj Baishya said the case against Sonowal could not be reopened merely on the basis of the Ulfa statement and without material evidence. Reopening was a possibility only if the CBI or the victim's family moved court with fresh evidence, he added.