Suspected militants of the banned United Liberation Front of Asom on Wednesday night shot dead a former militant-turned-businessman at Kerani Gaon near Kordoiguri under Doom Dooma police station in Tinsukia district of Upper Assam.
The security sources said the surrendered militant, Pranab Moran, who used to run a grocery shop in the locality, was preparing to sleep inside his shop when two suspected ULFA militants came calling.
The ultras, posing as customers, knocked on the door of the closed shop and asked for a packet of bread and shot Moran as he opened the door.
On hearing the gun shots, army personnel from the nearby camp rushed to the spot and took the profusely bleeding Moran to the hospital where he was declared dead. Local people suspected that the ULFA had killed the former member of the outfit suspecting him to be an informer.
Killings of former members of the outfit, who are known as 'Surrendered ULFA' (SULFA), have been continuing in the state since late 1990s when the security forces allegedly used them to elicit information about the whereabouts of ULFA militants in different parts of the state.
This resulted in killings of many surrendered ULFA militants in the state by the ULFA and counter killings of close relatives of ULFA members by a 'band of secret killers' during the late 1990s.
According to the police, over 10,000 ULFA militants have surrendered in the state since 1991 and most of the former militants are now involved in various trades including real estate, coal trading, construction contracts, trading in different commodities, transport sector, farming sector.
Some of the former ULFA ultras have been rehabilitated in the Assam police force and central paramilitary forces. A select group of them have already established themselves as affluent businessmen in the state.
However, most of the surrendered militants still live under the constant threat from ULFA. The surrendered militants are now heavily dependent on the state police force and the army for their security.
