Police arrest pro-talks Ulfa leader in Tezpur suicide case

Guwahati: Police have arrested pro-talks Ulfa leader Pranjit Saikia on Thursday, after Makon Devi, the lone survivor in the Tezpur suicide incident, registered a case against him. Saikia resided in the outfit’s Sipajhar camp in Darrang district.
The incident rocked the state on Wednesday.
Devi, who lost her husband Bhabani Sarma, son Manjul and daughter-in-law Astami on Wednesday, lodged a complaint with Mangaldai Police and accused Saikia of threatening her family with murder if they failed to repay their loan.
Burdened with heavy debt and hounded by Ulfa militants, the family jumped into the flooded Brahmaputra at Tezpur in Assam on Tuesday night to escape their ordeal. Though Devi survived, the others drowned.
“We’ve arrested Saikia on the basis of a complaint by Makon Devi,” said police officials, adding the family had approached Saikia to settle the matter with the moneylenders. However, he had demanded a huge amount from the family a few days ago. Locals in Mangaldai alleged that Saikia runs a ‘kangaroo court’ from the Sipajhar camp. “He runs a parallel system in the area. He gets involved in local problems and decides the fate of many. In many cases, he manhandled those who failed to obey his orders,” said a local. On being questioned by the media, Saikia confessed that Makon Devi’s family had approached him. He denied having threatened them.