Guwahati: In a significant development, the Assam Police have arrested Manas Chaliha, the alleged kingpin of the ULFA-I spying case. Chaliha was apprehended by a joint team of Assam and West Bengal Police from a hotel in Alipurduar, where he had been hiding for several days.
The arrest comes after a youth named Manas Borgohain, who was found spying in the ULFA-I camp in Myanmar, revealed Chaliha’s involvement as the mastermind behind planting Assamese youths as spies in the rebel outfit’s mobile camps.
During interrogation, Chaliha denied the allegations but was confronted with several previous cases of fraudulent activities, including allegedly siphoning off Rs 8.5 lakh from a businessman and duping several people for large sums of money in the name of his venture, Organic Majuli.
Chaliha had been absconding after police reopened an old file on him. He was arrested based on this case while on his way to Guwahati from Golaghat.
The ULFA-I released a video where an alleged police spy identified as Manash Borgohain disclosed that he had been recruited as a spy by Chaliha. Borgohain claimed that Chaliha was the zonal head of the police’s Special Branch and was involved in recruiting men and women for spying on the ULFA-I camp.
The Assam Police have refuted these claims, stating that Manash Borgohain is not a police spy and that Chaliha has no connection to the administration. The ULFA-I also questioned the police for not taking action against Chaliha.
In a recent development, the ULFA-I released a confessional video of Manash Borgohain, one of its members suspected of spying. Borgohain confessed to being sent by the Assam state authorities to spy on the ULFA-I and revealed his work with the Special Branch of Assam Police since 2021.
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The Assam Police have maintained that Manash Borgohain is not a police spy and that Chaliha is not associated with the administration in any way. The ULFA-I has also released a statement in this regard, expressing concern over Chaliha’s allegations and stating that neither the ULFA-I chief nor any member of the organisation has contacted Chaliha.
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