Bail plea of Magor officials rejected

JORHAT, July 21: The court of the Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) here today rejected the bail applications of the four Mohbandha Tea Estate employees, working under the Williamson Magor Group, including a manager and a doctor, who are accused of helping a deceased ULFA militant, one Ratul Dutta, both financially and medically. The court order stated, "as the investigation was in its initial stage, hence the bail pleas have been rejected so as to facilitate smooth conduct of investigation". The court added that "though the nature of the crime was serious, but the police was yet to substantiate their case with enough evidence against the accused". Only yesterday, defence lawyer Rintu Goswami while speaking to the Press claimed that the police case was very weak and would not stand scrutiny in the court. Even if we assume that the charges levelled by the police are true the sections under which the quartet are booked are not applicable, barring R/W 10/13 of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act. He further termed the role of the police as very confusing. The accused in the case, including manager Aswini Sarma, doctor Gajen Gogoi, mechanic Haren Saikia and driver Gajen Bhuyan were yesterday grilled by the police for 10 hours before being again remanded to judicial custody. According to legal sources, the defendants could under the circumstances appeal before the district and sessions court or straight away move the high court if they so desired.