NRI Deb's daughter had moved the
Union Home Ministry demanding
an inquiry by the Central intelligence agency.
CBI
team retrieves skeletons of NRI Pratul Deb
[Assam] From The Assam Tribune:
Rini Kakati
Mon, 05 Sep 2005 03:49:20 -0700
NRI Pratul Deb murder: CBI team retrieves skeletons
From Our Correspondent
HAILAKANDI, Sept 4 ? A 55-member team, comprising
CBI officials, a magistrate, a doctor, CRPF personnel
and a dozen labourers today dug up two skeletons at
Boncherra, near the Assam-Mizoram border. The skeletons
are believed to be those of kidnapped NRI businessman
and BJP leader Pratul Deb and his associate Sadhan
Nath.
What has almost confirmed the skeletons being those
of Deb and his aide is the recovery of a pacemaker
alongside. Deb had a pacemaker implant.
The CBI team, led by DIG Loknath Behera, and other
members of the team, reached Boncherra, along the
rugged and mountainous Assam-Mizoram border today
and launched a massive drive to retrieve the bodies,
which were camouflaged under a huge boulder, alongside
a falls. The spot is about 50 km from Hailakandi.
NRI Deb, also the brother-in-law and political rival
of Assam minister Gautam Roy, was kidnapped along
with Nath while on their way to Mizoram by jeep at
the bordering Baicherra forest village on March 14
last year. It is believed that the two were killed
and buried. The skeletons, in scattered condition
at the time of discovery, were initially packed in
gunny bags. The investigating team also came across
two shirts and a pair of rubber slippers.
The CBI team, camping in Hailakandi for the past
several days, had left for the spot in the wee hours
today, accompanied by four vehicles carrying CRPF
personnel.
Meanwhile, two persons ? Khagendra Chakma (35) and
Hemendra Chakma (42) ? were arrested last evening
from the border area. They, together with the duo
released from Arunachal jail yesterday, guided the
CBI team to the spot where the bodies are buried.
The four persons have confessed to their involvement
in the kidnapping and the subsequent killing of Deb
and Nath. The abducted persons were chopped into pieces
and then buried together in the remote and inaccessible
border area, as per their reported confession.
Following the departure of the CBI team into the border
jungles, sensation has gripped entire Hailakandi,
with people keeping their fingers crossed in dreadful
anticipation. All sorts of rumours have been doing
the rounds since yesterday.
The case created a great deal of consternation in
the State. It was handed over to the CBI after Deb?s
family members had moved the Union Home Ministry demanding
an inquiry by the Central intelligence agency.
Sources here said that the two skeletons, along with
the other recoveries from Boncherra, would be flown
to New Delhi tomorrow for forensic tests. Two more
CBI teams, from Kolkata and Delhi, are arriving here
to follow up the investigations
