Man identifies Ram's 'body' as that of relative

Guwahati, July 9 (UNI) In a new twist to the controversy over abduction of FCI executive director PC Ram, recovery of his body and his latest phone call to family members, a resident of Anandpur in Baksa district today claimed that the body earlier identified as that of Ram was actually that of his relative, Sunil Kumar Chouhan.

Dhireswar Dutta told police that Sunil, who was a rickshaw puller in Guwahati, had come to stay at his Baksa residence on June 24 last. He was, however, abducted on June 27 by unknown miscreants and had remained untraced.

When the exhumed decomposed body, assumed to be that of Ram, was recovered in the same district, Dutta had claimed before police that the body was of Sunil. But his claim was undermined and the body handed over to family of Ram, after formal identification by Ram's son Pravin and 22 others.

However, a reported phone call by Ram to his family at Ghaziabad on July 6, eight days after the body was found, had made Pravin retract his statement and he claimed that his father was alive and he had made a wrong identification due to the pressue of the previous months.

The Asom government and police had also later stated that Ram was alive, after initially maintaining that the body was his.

These developments had led to the question of the real identity of the recovered body, which was today claimed to be that of Sunil by Dutta.

The government is yet to make any official announcement in this regard. Dutta, his wife and two daughters have been picked up for questioning, police sources informed.

Sammples of DNA of the body had already been sent to forensic laboratory in Hyderabad for matching with those of Pravin and his uncle, to confirm whether it was that of Ram.

The ULFA has demanded the release of two jailed leaders, Mrinal Hazarika and Pallab Saikia, in exchange of Ram, who, the outfit claimed, was still in its captivity.

The outfit was also reported to have slapped a ransom demand of Rs 21 crore, though no confirmation had been received of any money transaction.

UNI