For long it has been a conjecture. Occasionally, it has also been a whisper. But never there has been any hard evidence of ‘Tea Money’ to the Bodo militants. Not any longer. The ‘villain’ is, hold your breath, Williamson Magor!

Well, that is the ‘evidence’ Kolkata police has ‘unearthed’. Accidentally. Two top NDFB leaders made the confession, police claim.

‘Speaker’ Sunil Brahma alias B Simong alias B Benga and ‘Captain’ B Buthang were picked up from Park Circus on April 30. During interrogation, they told the police, Williamson Magor gave them Rs. 10 lakhs as ‘tea protection money’. The duo was in Kolkata to collect the money. At the time of arrest, the money was still in their possession.

 Police presented the ‘prize’ to a Sealdah Court, which allowed Assam to take them ‘home’. A special police team from Assam travelled to the Eastern metropolis to ‘bring’ the two Bodo militants to Guwahati. The first thing the police team of two DSPs did on return was to ‘produce the Bodo militants’ before Judicial Magistrate Nirupam Rajkumari and get a 14-day remand.

Brahma said that the NDFB is united in its stand for a negotiation with the Centre. ‘We are ready to start discussions with the Government with the help of a reliable interlocutor. Till now, no one has come forward to play that role’, he said.

Brahma said he is not opposed to the BTC Accord. But he doesn’t pin any hopes of the Accord fulfilling the aspirations of the Bodo people.

Meanwhile, sources in Assam police claimed that infighting among the NDFB leaders resulted the arrest. According to them, it was actually Ranjan Daimary, the NDFB supremo, who tipped the Kolkata police about the presence of these two leader in the city.

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