Railways sack ULFA leader Paresh Baruah

GUWAHATI - Elusive military commander of United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA), Paresh Barua, who, amusingly, continued to be on the rolls of Indian Railways, is sacked, an official said on Friday.

Barua was appointed as a traffic porter by the railway authorities in 1978 under the sports quota, but his salary was stopped in 1980 after he went underground.

“A railway employee with the name Paresh Barua was working as a porter at the railway station of Tinsukia. The disciplinary body of the station has decided to suspend him from the job,” said S. Hajong, spokesperson of North East Frontier Railway.

The police believe that Paresh Barua is still elusive, hiding omewhere along the Myanmar-China border

Earlier, ULFA chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa, who remained underground for almost two decades, was arrested in Bangladesh and brought to India.

In less than a month, the ULFA was dealt another body blow with the arrest of the group’s top leaders, including Rajkhowa, Raju Baruah, Chitraban Hazarika and Sacha Chaudhary.

The ULFA, which demands independence for the tea and oil-rich Assam, is running a three-decade-old campaign that has claimed the lives of 30,000 people. (ANI)