GUWAHATI, Jan 21 ? In the Sanjay Ghosh killing case, seven prosecution witnesses today deposed before the ad-hoc Additional Sessions Judge Kamrup P K Phukan here, reports PTI. The witnesses were all residents of Majuli river island in upper Assam where social worker Sanjoy Ghosh of Avard-NE was working and abducted by the ULFA on July 4, 1997.
None of the witnesses turned hostile. One of the accused, ULFA cadre Kaniya Hazarika, who was charge-sheeted by the investigating agency CBI and is in judicial custody now, was also present in the court. The next recording of another witness would be held tomorrow. Earlier on December 17, a boatman of Majuli had as a witness told the same court that Sanjoy Ghosh was taken hostage by a four-member ULFA gang across river Brahmaputra to a lonely island.
The boatman, whose identity was not divulged, said five persons had approached him and asked him to ferry them across the river to another island called Rabi Chapori. He obliged them but on the return trip noticed that one person was missing. The boatman said that the missing person, who was wearing ?blue shoes? could be Sanjay Ghosh as he recognised him when he later saw Ghosh?s photos in the newspapers. Ghosh, who was working in Majuli, the world?s largest river island, was kidnapped by the ULFA a few months after he reached the place on the ground that he was ?an agent of the Indian Army?. Ghosh was killed in captivity which drew flak from the international community and ULFA also admitted later that his killing was a ?big blunder? on their part.
On December 16 in her deposition before the court, Ghosh?s wife, Sumita Ghosh had said her husband was a dedicated social worker who was abducted by the ULFA as a ?punishment for exposing the unholy nexus between them and contractors?. Sumita said her husband was also to expose the nexus of the contractors, ULFA and Government officials in Majuli for which he drew their wrath. She submitted before the court that the ?Commander in Chief? Paresh Barua had contacted her over telephone on the release of her husband.
The CBI filed chargesheets against the ULFA ?Commander in Chief, Paresh Barua and several other leaders in 1999 in connection with the abduction case and killing case. In the chargesheet, the CBI said Ghosh was murdered in cold blood by the ULFA and his body, wrapped in a gunny bag, was thrown into the river which was not recovered.