CM Sonowal orders immediate steps to rescue abducted ONGC employees

GUWAHATI: Assam chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal today expressed deep concern over the reported abduction of three Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) Ltd employees from an oilfield at Lakwa in Sivasagar district by unidentified gunmen last night and ordered immediate steps to rescue the three.

Sonowal held an urgent meeting with chief secretary Jishnu Baruah and director general of police (DGP) Bhaskarjyoti Mahanta in this regard. Additional DGP (Law and Order) GP Singh has already reached the area of incident following the chief minister’s direction and started investigation.

At least five suspected United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA) – Independent cadres allegedly abducted junior engineering Alakesh Saikia of Jorhat and junior technical assistants Mohini Mohan Gogoi of Demow and Ritul Saikia of Borhola in an ONGC ambulance around 3 am today.

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Later, the vehicle was found abandoned in a jungle near Nimonagarh close to the Assam-Nagaland border.

Paresh Barua-led ULFA-I had earlier kidnapped two Quippo Oil and Gas Infrastructure Ltd employees – Pranab Kr Gogoi of Sivasagar and Ram Kumar of Bihar -- from an oilfield in Arunachal Pradesh on December 21 last year and released them early this month after more than three and a half months of captivity.