(Top) DHD-J chairman Jewel Gorlosa and commander-in-chief Niranjan Hojai. File pictures

Guwahati, April 26: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) and the Assam government may land in a tight spot for not objecting to bail pleas of DHD (J) chairman Jewel Garlosa and commander-in-chief Niranjan Hojai.

Gauhati High Court today ordered the director-general of the NIA, the solicitor-general of India, the advocate-general of Assam and the state home commissioner to appear personally before it to explain the circumstances and grounds on which they decided not to object to the bail petitions of the top leaders of the militant outfit.

Hearing a bail petition filed by Jayanta Kumar Ghosh, one of the accused in NIA case (number 1/2009), a division bench of Justice Iqbal Ahmed Ansari and Justice Arun Chandra Upadhyay today passed the order and fixed May 3 as the date for their appearance.

Ghosh and a few other accused in two NIA cases (number 1/2009 and 2/2009) who had filed bail petitions in the high court had argued that if the two main accused, who are top functionaries of a banned militant outfit, can be released on bail following the NIA and Assam government’s submission that they had no objection to them being granted interim bail, then why should the same standard not be applicable in case of other accused, many of whom claim not to be even a primary member of the DHD (J).

The NIA had registered the cases in 2009 after it was directed by the Centre to investigate cases relating to siphoning of funds meant for development in North Cachar Hills district (now Dima Hasao) to the DHD (J).

Ghosh, who is a contractor, was not a member of DHD (J). He was accused of defalcating government funds and channelising the money to the outfit’s coffers.

The NIA has objected to the bail petitions filed by Ghosh and other accused persons — Debashish Bhattacharjee, Sandip Kumar Ghosh, R.H. Khan and Samir Ahmed.

Garlosa and Hojai, on other hand, were first granted interim bail for four months by the high court on August 12, 2011, and the same was extended thrice.

The last time their bail was extended on April 9 and the bail period was extended till July 17 this year.

The NIA, in an affidavit submitted in the court stated that “the matter with regard to the conditional release of accused Jewel Gorlosa and Niranjan Hojai on bail was discussed at the home ministry level and after appropriate approval, a decision was taken to not oppose the bail and allow the accused to go on conditional bail for the purpose of taking part in the peace negotiations with the government of Assam as well as with the central government”.

Another accused, Samir Ahmed, an employee of HSBC Bank, who was arrested from Bangalore on June 3, 2009, for aiding and abetting the DHD (J) leaders, had also written to Chief Justice of Gauhati High Court A.K. Goel a few months ago, stating that he had never been a member of the DHD (J) or any other militant group and was suffering from a torn knee ligament.

In his letter, Ahmed raised questions about why he was being denied bail despite being in jail for over two-and-a-half years when the two main accused in the case, Garlosa and Hojai, were out on bail.