Tuesday, August 16 2005 18:38 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Guwahati: The Assam Government has rejected the findings of the Justice (retd) J N Sharma One-man Commission on 'secret killings' allegedly during the previous Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) Government 'as there were glaring discrepancies in the findings'.

Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi told reporters in Guwahati today (Aug 16, 2005) that his Cabinet 'has decided not to accept the findings of Justice Sharma and also to wind up the Commission and express our displeasure to him'.

"There are glaring discrepancies in the report. Justice Sharma in one part of the report on the three cases he had investigated so far says there is definite conspiracy. Then in another part of the report he denies it. As a responsible Government we cannot accept discrepancies", Gogoi asserted.

The Chief Minister was also peeved at Justice Sharma revealing the contents of his report to the media 'after he submitted the confidential report to me (on August 13). I did not even tell its contents to my cabinet colleagues, but he made it public'.

"It is a fact there were secret killings and the people of Assam are unanimous on it. All we want to know is who were behind them and responsible for them so that appropriate action can be taken against them and also preventive measures adopted. Action has to be taken even if negligence on the part of Government officers is found", Gogoi asserted.

"Justice Sharma relied more on the police than on the relatives of the victims during his investigation. He accepted the police version on the killings and rejected the victims side. He did not go into details and both sides", accused the Chief Minister.

Gogoi explained 'secret killings' as those 'being done with government connivance or its tacit support or the Government choosing to be ignorant when such killings are going on'.