GUWAHATI, Sept 7: The army has clarified that a major of the 11th Jat regiment, accused of the murder of three former United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA) leaders in Dibrugarh on August 27, had not misappropriated money recovered from the extremists two days before the murder.The army, in a press release issued from its corps headquarters at Tezpur, has said that the killing of the three former militants was not over money matters as suspected.``Major Jamir Khan was indeed involved in an encounter with a group of ULFA activists at village Jerai near Dibrugarh on August 25 and had also recovered Rs 4.4 lakh, but that amount was found intact and counted properly,'' the army press release claimed.The major, who had gone to the house of a prominent former ULFA leader on the night of August 27, had allegedly accused some former militants there of complaining against him with the higher army authorities, and had shot at three of them for apparently not admitting that they had lodged the complaint.Major Khan, according to reports, had then collected the three bodies and left them in a Maruti car on the National Highway a few kilometres outside the town, following which the police recovered the bodies.Meanwhile, the Guwahati High Court has directed the army authorities to submit a detailed report on the incident, including Major Khan's role.Justice A K Patnaik directed the army authorities to submit this report by November 2.The High Court directive comes in the wake of a petition filed by the wives of the three former ULFA leaders who were killed, pleading for awarding exemplary punishment to the guilty, as also to direct payment of adequate compensation to the wives and minor children of the deceased. Top
