FCI top boss killed in ULFA-Police encounter

Guwahati, July 12: FCI top boss P C Ram died in an exchange of fire between ULFA and police forces near Kamalpur, on the outskirts of the city, early today.

Two ULFA cadres were also killed in the encounter which took place at Panitela village near Changsari when the ultras were taking shelter in the residence of one Gobinda Deka.

According to DIG Assam police G P Singh, ''Along with the bodies of two ULFA cadres we have recovered another corpse of a 50-55 year-old man. From the photo we are carrying, he looks like the abducted FCI executive P C Ram. We are in the process of completing the formalities of identification.'' However, the villagers as well as the mediapersons who had reached the spot confirmed that the body was that of Ram. It was lying in a pool of blood, facing downwards.

The killing of Ram ended the last 13 days' twists and turns in the abduction-murder case which had left the family as well as the police confused. Recovery of a mutilated body by police on June 30 from the Baska area and subsequent identification of it as Ram unleashed a series of bizarre developments.

As Ram's family cremated the body and was receiving dignitaries mourning the death, the FCI top boss himself called up saying that he was alive and that the corpse belonged to someone else.

An embarrassed Asom government quickly acknowledged its mistake and said the body belonged to an army man Lance Naik Sunil Kumar who was abducted and killed by ULFA around the same place.

A day after police said the body found in Baska district on June 30 was that of lance Naik Sunil Kumar and not the abducted FCI executive director, the armyman's wife in Himachal Pradesh said it could not be her husband.

Meanwhile, ULFA's announcement on Thursday that Ram was alive and a call to his family the next day from a man who sounded like him added to the complications. The police are banking on the DNA profiling of his hair and skin samples.

His family members were expected to reach Guwahati by this afternoon to formally identify the body.

UNI