Gogoi accuses Mahanta of secret killings

Guwahati, Sep 20 (UNI) Asom Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi today held former Chief Minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta and his AGP regime responsible for the secret killings.

''I have received the interim report of the K N Saikia inquiry commission and the report would be submitted before the Asom Assembly along with an Action Taken Report(ATR)'' said Mr Gogoi.

Talking to newspersons, he said the AGP regime allegedly at the behest of the then Chief Minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta pursued an aggressive policy of tit for tat to tackle insurgency. The strategy saw a large number of family members of the top level ULFA leaders were systematically eliminated by organized killings.

''If I could have stopped it soon after coming to power, then it only proved that everything was done with full knowledge of Mr Mahanta. It is pity that the same Mahanta is now demanding release of the report. He should know the parlimanentary procedure,'' Mr Gogoi said.

''I firmly believe that Mr. Mahanta was fully responsible and I am satisfied with the Inquiry Commission report, which I would never disclose before tabling in the state assembly,'' he said.

According to Mr Gogoi, Mr Prafulla Kumar Mahanta was responsible for every ill of Assamese society. ''Hence people did not spare him.

It is irony that the AGP MLAs who threw him out of the party are clamouring for his return'' he said.

Meanwhile, K N Saikia has begun his second innings as he has begun a case by case investigation into the whole episode, which has been viewed as the turning point of Asom's political history.

UNI MT KK LS HT1655