Guwahati, Dec. 12: A Tada court here today acquitted two alleged Ulfa men after the prosecution failed to establish their role in the killing of a school principal in Nagaon district in 1991.
Judge of the designated Tada court H.C. Sarma today acquitted the accused duo — Tuli Phukan and Adhi Daimary — for lack of corroborative evidence to prove their involvement in the murder.
The principal of Kampur Higher Secondary School, Kunarmal Agarwala, and two of his personal security officers (PSOs) — Naren Bordoloi and Babul Bora — were shot dead on the school campus by suspected Ulfa rebels on December 5, 1991.
The daylight killings on the school premises created a sensation in the state at that time. The killers had taken away the stengun of one of the slain PSOs before fleeing.
Police had registered a case in this connection at Kampur police station and recovered three empty cartridges from the spot.
After an investigation, the police arrested the duo along with another Ulfa cadre, Bijoy Phukan, and booked them under Tada. The police also recovered a .9mm Mauser pistol, which they claimed was used in the killings.
They said during interrogation, Bijoy Phukan had confessed to his involvement in the murders.
However, Bijoy was abducted and killed by unidentified assailants in 2009 when he was out on bail. His body was later recovered from Mukal-mua in Nalbari district. He was also suspected to be involved in the killing of Anil Mazumdar, the editor of Assamese daily Aji, at Rajgarh in Guwahati on March 24, 2009.
The accused were represented by senior lawyer Nekibur Zaman, who was assisted by advocates Md Mehdi Hassan and Manash Pratim Borah, in court.
During the trial, altogether 27 witnesses were examined. “They were acquitted by the court after the prosecution failed to establish the charges levelled against them,” Zaman said.
“The investigation officer could not conclusively prove that the three empty cartridges recovered from the scene of murder were fired from the Mauser pistol they had seized,” he said.
