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Journalism of Courage
GUWAHATI, February 4: NAME: Mani Kumar Subba alias Maniraj Limboo alias Mangane Saila alias Panchite. Age: 51. Address: Quarter No. 22, MLA Hostel, Dispur, Assam. Occupation: Owner of Delhi-based MS Associates which runs lotteries in Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh. Also owns a plywood factory in Arunachal Pradesh and a mechanised dairy farm in Coochbehar, West Bengal. Meet Congress candidate from Tezpur, Assam, for the coming elections whose income is unknown but according to his own party8217;s state general secretary Akon Bora, he8217;s a 8220;multimillionaire.8221;
Among the allegations: Subba is a Nepali citizen who acquired Indian citizenship fraudulently; he is an absconding prisoner who had been imprisoned for life in Nepal in a murder case.
Subba was elected as the Congress MLA from Neoboicha in 1991 and again in 1996 from Haarmati, Assam. Subba8217;s nomination papers were initially held back by the Tezpur returning officer last Thursday, but two days later, they were accepted.
According to documents sent by the Home Ministry to the CBI, Subba was sentenced to life in a murder case in Nepal; he has been named in a lottery scam in Meghalaya; he was involved in 8220;anti-national8221; unrest in Sikkim. The other cases against him include one for defaulting in payments to the State Governments of Sikkim and Manipur and for making regular payments to North-East8217;s premier insurgent group, the NSCN I-M.
Subba is campaigning in Tezpur and was not available for comment. The Assam Congress general secretary Bora dismissed the charges as baseless. 8220;All these allegations are false. He has a passport and has no criminal case against him. His candidature was cleared by the Congress High Command in Delhi. You wait and see, he will win theTezpur seat,8221; he says.
The Asom Gana Parishad AGP has complained that the officer did not conduct a proper scrutiny, alleging that Subba was a citizen of Nepal and had been earlier refused enrolment as a voter from 17 Central Pendam Assembly Constituency, Sikkim, in 1985.
On that occasion, he had produced supporting documents showing his name to be registered in the Assam voters8217; list as residing in Lakhimpur district in the State. Official records show that on a complaint by Ashok Kumar Subba of the then Janata party that Mani Kumar Subba was a foreign national with his permanent address at Ekhabo Panchayat, ward no. 8, Taplezum district, in Nepal, his application was turned down. 8220;Special branch of the Sikkim police conducted an inquiry and the report said that M K Subba is a foreign national from Nepal who by devious means managed to get his name entered in the 1979 electoral rolls of Assam,8221; noted Gangtok8217;s electoral officer.
Born in Sangsabu village in eastern Nepal, Subba migrated to Sikkimin 1962, then an independent country, and three years later moved to Tinsukia in upper Assam. He was reportedly arrested by the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Dibrugarh, in connection with a robbery.
According to documents now with the CBI, he reportedly went back to Nepal, where he was arrested in connection with a murder case. Sentenced for life, he allegedly escaped from Eelam Jail in Eastern Nepal after 18 months and came back to Tinsukia.
Subba then moved to Arunachal Pradesh where he rose to an important position in the Congress before moving to Assam. Subba, who is at present the treasurer of the Assam Pradesh Congress Committee, has several properties in Delhi as well as Assam. His lottery business, M S Associates, which is based in Delhi, extends to several States including Assam, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Sikkim, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh.
