Assam DGP asserts third abducted ONGC employee Ritul Saikia is alive in ULFA-I captivity; efforts on to rescue him

GUWAHATI: Assam director general of police Bhaskar Jyoti Mahanta today said Ritul Saikia, one of the three Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) employees, abducted by the United Liberation Front of Asom-Independent (ULFA-I), is alive.

The DGP while talking to the media here said, police has been tracing the location of Ritul Saikia and coordinating with the Assam Rifles and Nagaland Police to rescue him.

Mahanta said that Saikia is being held captive by a group of ULFA-I militants in the Indian side along the Indo-Myanmar border.

He added that the group is desperately trying to sneak into the neighbouring country to reach their camps with Saikia.

The top cop also said that the influential Konyak Union (KU) of Nagaland has been putting pressure on the ULFA-I to release Saikia immediately.

Three employees of ONGC, Mohini Mohan Gogoi, Alakesh Saikia and Ritul Saikia were abducted by suspected militants from a rig at Lakwa oilfield in Sivasagar district on April 21.

The Assam Police later confirmed that the ULFA-I was behind the abduction.

On April 24, Gogoi and Alakesh Saikia were rescued by the security forces after a gunfight in Mon district of Nagaland, along the Indo-Myanmar border.

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In a statement, the ULFA-I later said all the three ONGC employees were handed over to the villagers of Totokchingnyu as the outfit was concerned about their safety amidst the gunfight.

“Since the security forces have not said anything about the fate of the third person, we suspect that he was either killed or kept hidden by the security forces deliberately,” the statement said.

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