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Fierce Fighting between Ultras and Police: PC Ram and 2 ultras killed

Guwahati : Assam police confirms the death of Phul Chand Ram alongwith two militants at a cross fire between ULFA and police that rocked Changsari near Guwahati on the wee hours of Thursday much to embarrassment of the Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi who assured the family of needful action to crack the impasse.

Senior police officials say the kidnapped FCI official died following a heavy exchange of firing between ULFA militants and a police team led by western range deputy inspector general of police G P Singh which had to take support of Army while the raid was conducted at the house of Govind Deka of Changsari in Kamrup district.

They say acting on secret information that a group of ULFA activists are halting at Mr Deka’s residence with the kidnapped FCI executive director PC Ram, the team arrived in the sport and asked the people inside the house to surrender.But firing started from inside the house of Mr Deka forcing the police to retaliate immediately.
After the end of nearly four hour long heavy exchange of firing, the police recovered riddled bodies of two ULFA activists with another body of a person of 54/ 55 age. His physical appearance of the body resembles with that of Dr Ram.

After receiving reports of the incident, Dr Ram’s family members are arriving in Guwahati to identify the body while the top ranked FCI officials posted in the north eastern region are also visiting for observation. The bodies of the two ULFA leaders are being kept at the
Guwahati Medical College Hospital for an autopsy.

An angry Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi on Wednesday evening snubbed the top ranked police officials for the uncertainty while he was talking to them at this official residence at the Koinadhara hill after arriving in the city from
New Delhi.

Dr Ram was kidnapped in the Ulubari area of Guwahati on April 17. A body believed to be his was subsequently dug out of a field in Baksa district and even identified by his son Prabin Gautam.

Shortly after the body was cremated in New Delhi on July 2, the ULFA told the media that Ram, FCI`s senior-most official in the northeast, was still alive.

This prompted security forces to launch fresh operations. A man claiming to be Ram also called his family in
Ghaziabad to say that he was alive.

Dr Ram had been kidnapped by suspected ULFA militants in the second week of April and the militant outfit had demanded the release of two of its activists for his release.

Earlier Ram had been declared dead after Assam Police recovered a body and his son had identified it as that of his father. The body was accordingly taken to
Ghaziabad and cremated.

But last week, Ram's family had surprised everybody by claiming that the senior FCI official was alive and that Ram spoke to his wife on Friday evening.

She claimed that Ram had said the ULFA wanted two of its arrested leaders freed in exchange for his release. Ram's son Prabin too claimed in
New Delhi that his father had spoken to him. A DNA test was carried out subsequently in Hyderabad to ascertain the identity of the body brought from Guwahati, police said. The results of the forensic study have not been revealed yet

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