An employee of a private oil drilling company abducted from Arunachal Pradesh by United Liberation Front of Asom-Independent (ULFA-I) in December last year was released on Monday by the banned outfit.
Ram Kumar, an employee of a private oil drilling company was released at a remote location on the Indo-Myanmar border in Nagaland. His colleague, Pranab Kumar Gogoi from Assam, who was also abducted at the same time, was released on Saturday in Changlang district in Arunachal Pradesh.
“Ram Kumar has been released in a village on the Indian side in Nagaland close to the Indo-Myanmar border. Nagaland Police handed him over to Assam Police,” Shwetank Mishra, superintendent of police, Charaideo district, Assam, said.
He added that Kumar, who spent 105 days in custody of ULFA-I, appeared to be healthy. “I would like to thank Paresh Baruah (commander-in-chief of ULFA-I). He had called me over phone during the period in custody and assured me that I would be released as he doesn’t have any personal enmity with me,” Kumar told journalists after his release.
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{{/usCountry}}Gogoi, a drilling superintendent, and Ram Kumar, a radio operator, employed with Quippo Oil and Gas Infrastructure Limited, a Delhi-based company, were abducted on December 21 from a drilling location in Changlang district.
Following his release, Gogoi had said that both of them were kept together till March 4 after which they were separated by the banned outfit.
On January 12, Paresh Baruah had admitted to abducting the two employees and told TV channels in Assam that Kumar, who hails from Bihar, would become a “victim” if the oil drilling company didn’t pay the outfit it’s “due share” for extracting natural resources from Assam and rest of northeast region.
Baruah had said that Gogoi, who is an Assamese, won’t be harmed.
Later, ULFA-I set a deadline till February 16 to complete talks and secure the release of the two abducted employees. It also said that chief ministers of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh would be held responsible if the two employees died in an “undesired incident”.
In February this year, the outfit threatened to take ”final action” against Gogoi and Kumar in a phased manner since the deadline for talks as well as discussions with the company had failed.