Abducted ONGC employee set free by ULFA(I)

In what has brighten the prospect of engaging the elusive Ulfa-I commander-in-chief Paresh Baruah in peace-process, the outlawed Ulfa-I honouring the appeal of Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma released abducted ONGC employee Ritul Saikia at Longwa village in Mon district of Nagaland at about 7am on Saturday.

Confirming the release of the abducted employee, security sources said, “A team of Assam Rifles personnel escorted Ritul Saikia and handed him over to Assam Police. He will be reaching his family at his home (Borhola in Sivasagar district) by this evening.”

In a brief interview to the media waiting at the Assam-Nagaland border, Mr Saikia said, “I am fit and healthy but a little tired…after walking for three days.”

Mr Saikia and two other ONGC employees were abducted by Ulfa-I rebels on April 21 from a rig site at Lakwa in Charaideo district.

Assam Police and security forces rescued the other two persons following an encounter in Mon district of Nagaland three days later, but the militants got away along with Mr Saikia in their captivity.

The Ulfa-I chief initially denied having Mr Saikai in its captivity but later admitted holding him captive in one of their hideouts in Myanmar bordering Nagaland.

The Ulfa-I agreed to release the abducted ONGC employees on Thursday after the chief minister who visited the family of abducted ONGC employee made an appeal to Baruah to release Mr Saikia to create a congenial atmosphere for a peace process to start.

The Ulfa-I chief soon after the chief minister’s appeal responded positively and in fact while the chief minister was making this appeal in a press conference, the Ulfa-I chief called up media houses and said that the abducted ONGC employee would reach his home healthy and safe within the next three days.