When Suredra Paul, owner of the Apeejay group and brother of UK-based Swraj Paul, was brutally murdered by militants in Assam near Chabua on May 9 1990, my wife and I almost heard the gunshots because we lived only a few kilometers away from the crime scene, at Doom Dooma.
Later we came to know that the murder was done with a weapon called AK-47 and any 'idiot' could operate it with ease and that it was easily and cheaply available in Assam.
I still remember that eerie afternoon. Luckily we did not see any AK-47
while we lived there. It seems, as of today, the rifle has killed more
people than any other firearm in the world!
In the wee hours of November 8 1990, Executive Director P K Das came to our house and urged us to leave our tea-garden home, for our own safety, with as little baggage as possible. A couple of hours after his visit, we were driven to the company's head office about a km away.
There we all rode a gun-mounted, well guarded Indian army truck through the town of Doom Dooma where hundred of people watched us standing on the truck. We were being taken to Sookerating air force station- almost never used for non-defense purpose- to be airlifted from there in an Indian Airlines Boeing 747 flight to dodge the bullets of Ulfa's AK-47's.
We were fed nice breakfast at the air force station's dining hall but the Indian Airlines plane that had come to rescue us developed a snag and required a spare part. Another IA plane flew in either as a substitute or with the part and after a few hours we began our journey. We were given no lunch on the flight and the flight landed in Calcutta much after sunset.
The action did not end with our arrival in Calcutta. We were shielded from the media at the airport and were driven straight to the Park Hotel on Park street where we were checked
in but soon a rumour started circulating
that a few Ulfa terrorists were spotted inside and around the same hotel. So
hurriedly we were shifted from there to company's guest house (Brooke House) on
Shakespeare Sarani, not far from the hotel.
courtesy: The Economic Times, November 20 1990
courtesy: Frontline dated December 8-21 1990
* I knew well all the employees from the picture above and Deepak Sen, Managing Director lived in the bungalow above.
* The cars in the picture above were not "abandoned" by any definition of that
word. They were parked in the head office because the military convoy
carrying us started from that point. Managing Director was NOT evacuated
with us. He was already in Kolkata. Deepak Sen never returned to Assam that he had left because of the militancy.
He developed an illness while staying at Calcutta and died eventually at
Jaipur after his retirement. He was a handsome man when I first saw him in Assam. The same
could not be said about him once he fell ill.
* It was said (but hard to believe) the then Chief Minister of Assam - P K Mahanta- (or indeed the Prime Minister of India- V P Singh) did not know about the operation to rescue us. Mahanta government was dismissed by the centre on Nov 28 1990. V P Singh was replaced by Chandra Shekhar as Prime Minister on Nov 10 1990. Just a coincidence? Mr. Mahanta was the chief minister of Assam again from 1996-2001.
courtesy: Frontline dated December 8-21 1990
* There were all kinds of conspiracy theories floating in the days before the mission in Doom Dooma, Assam. They said an Ulfa terrorist had started living in an Assistant Manager's bungalow to observe 'us' and that there was a demand of huge ransom to spare our lives.
* When we lived there, people showed us the exact place in Chabua where the Chinese army had reached in 1962. India is still not at complete peace with China.
* A rickety Tinsukia station of 1990 has now been replaced apparently by a majestic one.
* In 2012-13 Unilever sold off its tea plantation companies in Assam and Southern India.
* The recent status of Ulfa senior leaders can be seen here.
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