The National Investigation Agency here on Monday arrested a director of a private school at Merapani in Upper Assam’s Golaghat district for his alleged links with Maoists.
Disclosing that director of Jatiya Vidyalaya, Pallab Barbora, was picked up by National Investigation Agency sleuths from his residence, authoritative security sources told this newspaper that Mr Barbora, a prominent human rights activist of the state, was closely associated with left-wing insurgency spreading its network in Upper Assam.
Though the National Investigation Agency was tightlipped about Mr Barbora’s involvement, security sources said that Mr Barbora who acted as patron to several mass movements was instrumental in organising meetings of Maoists rebels in Upper Assam’s Golaghat district which was attended by top Maoist leaders like Aditya Bora and Moina Dohitiya besides some intellectuals sympathetic to Maoist ideology.
Mr Bora was arrested by security forces in Jharkhand and brought to the state but managed to jump the bail.
Informing that Mr Bora and Mr Dohitiya are believed to have left the state following the mounting pressure of the security forces on Maoist rebels, security sources said that the arrested director of the school had facilitated their meetings with anti-dam activists also.
The police had arrested Mr Barbora in 2004 also for his connection with the United Liberation Front of Assam.
Meanwhile, outlawed United Liberation Front of Assam hardliners condemned the arrest of Mr Barbora while asking the human rights activists to launch an agitation opposing his arrest.
In a press statement issued on email, the United Liberation Front of Assam publicity in-charge Arunoday Asom claimed that Mr Barbora was a prominent human rights activist of the state and his arrest was a gross violation of human rights.