GUWAHATI, Aug 6: In what is believed to be a genuine press release issued by the outlawed ULFA, received by newspaper offices here tonight, the militant outfit has claimed that Sanjoy Ghosh, secretary of AVARD-NE, had died on Monday as he fell down a cliff in Arunachal Pradesh while trying to escape from captivity.This puts at rest all speculations regarding the uncertainty surrounding the rural development activist's fate following his abduction by the ULFA from Majuli island in Upper Assam on July 4 as also the series of contradictory statements purportedly put out in the name of ULFA.The ULFA Central Publicity Secretary, Mithinga Daimari, who issued the statement on Tuesday and received by newspapers here tonight, said Ghosh was on the verge of being released when he tried to run away from those holding him in captivity and ``accidentally'' fell off a cliff and died.``We were preparing for his release honouring the appeals made by a host of international organisations as well as individuals, but Ghosh had to embrace death for a minor fault,'' the statement said.But the ULFA also did not forget to mention that the Army had killed one Apurba Goswami, an ULFA activist from Lakhimpur, on July 30 in the statement, which raises suspicion that Ghosh might have been killed. The ULFA had only recently stated that it would not be responsible for any eventuality if the Army tried to interfere.
