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Assam govt concerned at harbouring of Gogoi

The Assam government on Monday expressed ''serious concern'' over the alleged habouring of prime accused Brajen Gogoi by the top brass of the Tatas in the Tata Tea-United Liberation Front of Asom nexus case.

A top official source confirmed that the state government, since the Sunday evening, had examined the various aspects of the case following the publishing of the transcripts of conversations between several top industrialists and a member of parliament on the Tata Tea-ULFA nexus.

Chief Minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta, Chief Secretary V S Jafa and Director General of Police K Hrishikeshan on Sunday night met together to work out a strategy and were expected to meet some senior police officers on Monday.

''We are expecting some proposals from the police to crack the case,'' said the source, adding that the law secretary had been asked to examine all the legal aspects of the new angle.

''Going by the reports of the telephone conversations, it appears to be a clear case of harbouring of an offender. Dr Gogoi had been in India since September 8 while all the Tata bosses including Ratan Tata had been maintaining that he was abroad,'' said the source.

Meanwhile, the Congress party said that the phone tapping was wrong. However, the party declined to give any comment on the Tata Tea-ULFA controversy.

UNI