Assam: MP Naba Kumar Sarania Forged ST Certificate, Claims CID

GUWAHATI: On December 23, the Gauhati High Court issued an order requiring the independent MP Naba Kumar Sarania's Scheduled Tribe (ST) certificate used for the Lok Sabha elections to be verified.

The ST(P) certificate was issued in the name of Naba Kumar Sarania, the late Lakhi Kanta Sarania's son, who is from Dighalipar, Tamulpur, under Baksa district, as "Boro Kachari" on September 12, 2011, by the Vice President of the All Assam Tribal Sangha, Tamulpur district unit, and countersigned by SDO (Civil), Tamulpur Sub-Division on October 19, 2011, according to the CID reports submitted to the High Court.

Records discovered throughout the course of the investigation, however, show that Naba Kumar Sarania's parents and ancestors used surnames not included in the Boro Kachari community, such as "Sarukoch, Das, and Deka." Additionally, MP Naba Kumar Sarania used the name "Deka" as it was listed in the Tamulpur Govt MV School's 1982 admissions register.

The name of Naba Kumar Sarania was written as Naba Kumar Deka s/o Lakhi Kanta Deka of Dighalipur as entered in Sl. No. 59 of the Tamulpur government MV School's 1983 admissions register, was discovered after careful examination.

The class of late Lakhi Kanta Das, son of late Sela Rani Das, was written as "Assamese" and sub-class as "Das" in the "Certificate of Discharge or Transfer to the Reserve and Recommendation for Civil Employment" dated November 15, 1980, issued by the Commanding Officer of Assam Regimental Centre, Shillong, proving that the parents of Naba Kumar Sarania were not Boro Kacharis.

On the other side, the name of Naba Kumar Sarania's mother, Deepika Das, was crossed out, and "Sarukoch '' was written right above the name in the land Jamabandi record. Under the name Deepika Das, there was also another title "Saru Das" listed in brackets. 

Sarania's ST classification was contested as being phony by former income-tax and tribal activist Janaklal Basumatary, who brought up the development. Basumatary further claimed that for the previous three years, the relevant authorities had disregarded his complaints in this regard.

Nevertheless, after hearing the case, the High Court directed a State-level scrutiny committee to check into the MP's accusation. Kokrajhar is the parliamentary district that Sarania represents in western Assam. In the 1980s, Sarania—a previous extremist—joined the banned United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA), where he got military instruction in Myanmar and Afghanistan. He oversaw the organization's major strike brigade.

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