Paresh Barua is No 1 'most wanted' person in Assam Police website

Paresh Barua is No 1 'most wanted' person in Assam Police website
Samudra Gupta Kashyap

Guwahati, February 19: He is 173 cms in height, has black hair and black eyes. There is a scar on the palm of his right hand. Can handle all kinds of weapons. Travels on a forged passport and identity card. Lives on money obtained from extortion or robbery.

Yes, he is Paresh Barua, the self-styled commander-in-chief of the armed wing of the outlawed United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA), who figures at the top of the 'most wanted' list of the Assam Police.

For those who are interested to know more about him: He is also known as Paban Barua, Pradip Barua and Nur-Uz-Zaman. Can speak a number of languages including English, Bengali, Hindi, Naga and Singpho (a tribe of eastern Arunachal Pradesh) and of course Assamese, his mother tongue.

The Assam Police, which has launched its website (www.assampolice.com) last week, has also posted a notice on Barua, supposedly the most dreaded ULFA leader, with the 'reason for notice' saying: Wanted on an arrest warrant (no number), issued on February 14, 1997 by judicial authorities in Guwahati, for murder, receiving stolen property, unlawful imprisonment and violation of firearms legislation.

While the website has said that extradition of Barua will be requested from any country, it has yet another interesting information, that being "death penalty" which according to the Assam Police website, is the "maximum penalty possible" in case of the most wanted ULFA leader.

Other information that the website contains about him include an incident of May 10, 1985, when he and some others raided a bank in Guwahati, shot the manager and 'stole' a sum of Rs 27,549.62 in cash. While the money was recovered and several of the offenders were arrested, Barua is still at large.

He is also said to have procured weapons, ammunition, explosives and communication devices for the ULFA with money obtained illegally by the organisation, apart from obtaining arms and guerilla training under the ISI of Pakistan, the Kachin Independent Army (KIA) of Myanmar and the NSCN.

What the website does not say however is the other side of Barua, who used to be a darling of the crowds at Chabua, his hometown, as the unputdownable centre-forward of the local football team. That was in the early 1970s, a period when just out of school with a first division in the school finals, Paresh also found a place in the Assam junior football team.

He had in fact also got a job in the Northeast Frontier Railway at Tinsukia for his prowess in the game of football, and also played for the local railway team bringing several trophies for it. Paresh Barua incidentally hails from a village (Jerai Chakalibhariya under Chabua police station) where almost every family has seen at least one boy making it to the state football team.

Today, at 44, Paresh Barua (born May 1, 1957) however hardly plays football, but continues to be the centre-forward of the ULFA, a team that is so heavily dependent on his tactics.

So next time you come across someone who is 173 cms tall, has black hair and eyes, and shakes hands with you, just try to find out if he has a scar on his right palm. Though no awards have been announced, Paresh Barua will definitely be a prize catch, going by the fact that he figures at the top of the 'most wanted' list of the Assam Police, with ULFA general secretary Anup Chetia coming a close second. As for chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa, he figures only at the number three slot.