Guwahati, Jan. 19: A city court today extended the judicial remand of three top Ulfa leaders, including founder member Bhimkanta Buragohain, till January 30 and asked the jail authorities to take ?proper care? of the banned outfit?s publicity chief Mithinga Daimary after he complained of chest pain.
Kamrup chief judicial magistrate Rumi Kumari Phukan, however, ended the hearing without taking up the bail applications filed by the families of the three militant leaders. The reason was an unscheduled holiday on account of a lawyer?s death.
Apart from Buragohain and Daimary, Ulfa cultural secretary Pranati Deka was produced in court. Advocates Bijan Mahajan, Raju Pradhan, Neqibur Jaman and Bhaskar Konwar represented the Ulfa leaders.
Goalpara police took Deka and her indisposed six-year-old son, who has been unwell for quite some time, into custody along with another Ulfa militant at Phulbari in Meghalaya on October 24.
They were on a bus when the police team on their trail for nearly seven days caught up with them. Meghalaya police helped their Assam counterparts in the pursuit.
Daimary and Buragohain were captured by the Royal Bhutan Army during the crackdown on camps of the Ulfa, the National Democratic Front of Boroland (NDFB) and the Kamtapur Liberation Organisation in its territory. They were later handed over to the Indian army.
The surrender of militants who fled Bhutan in the wake of the offensive continued yesterday with as many as 28 NDFB members laying down arms before the superintendents of police of Kokrajhar and Bongaigaon districts.
An impromptu surrender ceremony was organised on the bank of the Nangalbhanga, near Koila Moila village of Kokrajhar district. The militants deposited two Kalashnikov rifles, a self-loading rifle, a .303 rifle, five Chinese grenades, a wireless set and 221 rounds of assorted ammunition.
Since December 15, when the crackdown in Bhutan began, 100 militants have given themselves up to Kokrajhar and Bongaigaon police. Kokrajhar superintendent of police R. Vijay Krishna described the mass surrender yesterday as the ?biggest blow? to the NDFB.
A latest report from Bhutan said the Ulfa leaders have alleged that the crackdown was launched at New Delhi?s behest.